President Coolidge was a man who believed in personal and family honor.  He was a man of faith both in his private life and in his philosophic beliefs.

 

"A spring will cease to flow if its source be dried up; a tree will wither if its roots be destroyed. In its main features the Declaration of Independence is a great spiritual document. It is a document not of material but of spiritual conceptions. Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of men–these are not elements which we can see and touch. They are ideals. They have their source and roots in the religious convictions. They belong to the unseen world. Unless the faith of the American people in these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of the Declaration will perish. We can not continue to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the cause." – Calvin Coolidge

 

"We do not need more material development, we need more spiritual development, we do not need more intellectual power, we need more moral power. We do not need more knowledge, we need more character. We do not need more government, we need more culture. We do not need more laws, we need more religion. We do not need more of the things that are seen, we need more of the things that are unseen." – Calvin Coolidge

 

He understood the 10th Amendment.

 

"We cannot improve the condition of the people or reform human nature by intruding the nation into the affairs of the states or despoiling the people of their business." – Calvin Coolidge

 

"One insidious practice which sugar-coats the dose of Federal intrusion is the division of expense for public improvements or services between state and national treasuries. The ardent States Rights advocate sees in this practice a vicious weakening of the state system. The extreme federalist is apt to look upon it in cynical fashion as bribing the states into subordination. The average American, believing in our dual-sovereignty system, must feel that the policy of national-doles to the states is bad and may become disastrous. We may go on yet for a time with the easy assumption that ‘if the states will not, the nation must.’ But that way lies trouble. When the National Treasury contributes half, there is temptation to extravagance by the state. We have seen some examples in connection with the Federal contributions to road building. Yet there are constant demands for more Federal contributions. Whenever by that plan we take something from one group of states and give it to another group, there is grave danger that we do an economic injustice on one side and a political injury on the other. We impose unfairly on the strength of the strong, and we encourage the weak to indulge their weakness." – Calvin Coolidge

 

"Federal interference in state functions can never be justified as a permanent continuing policy even if, which is doubtful, such interference is warranted by emergency conditions as a temporary expedient. . . . [W]here once the Government engages in such an enterprise, it is almost impossible to terminate its connection therewith. We should not only decidedly refuse to countenance additional federal participation in state-aid projects, but should make careful study of all our activities of that character with a view to curtailing them." – Calvin Coolidge

 

"What we need is not more Federal government, but better local government." – Calvin Coolidge

 

President Coolidge was against abusive taxation.

 

"The property of the people belongs to the people. To take it from them by taxation cannot be justified except by urgent public necessity. Unless this principle be recognized our country is no longer secure, our people no longer free." – Calvin Coolidge

 

"A government which lays taxes on the people not required by urgent public necessity and sound public policy is not a protector of liberty, but an instrument of tyranny. It condemns the citizen to servitude. One of the first signs of the breaking down of a free government is a disregard by the taxing power of the right of the people to their own property. It makes little difference whether such a condition is brought about through will of a dictator, through the power of a military force, or through the pressure of an organized minority. The result is the same. Unless the people can enjoy that reasonable security in the possession of their property, which is guaranteed in the Constitution, against unreasonable taxation, freedom is at an end. The common man is restrained and hampered in his ability to secure food and clothing and shelter. His wages are decreased, his hours are lengthened. Against the recurring tendency in this direction there must be interposed the constant effort of an informed electorate and of patriotic public servants. The importance of a constant reiteration of these principles cannot be overestimated." – Calvin Coolidge

 

"The collection of any taxes which are not absolutely required, which do not beyond reasonable doubt contribute to the public welfare, is only a species of legalized larceny. Under this republic the rewards of industry belong to those who earn them. The only constitutional tax is the tax which ministers to public necessity. The property of the country belongs to the people of the country. Their title is absolute." – Calvin Coolidge

 

He believed in the free enterprise system.

 

"I favor the American system of individual enterprise, and I am opposed to any general extension of government ownership, and control." – Calvin Coolidge

 

President Coolidge understood the principles of the Founding Fathers.

 

"The meaning of the American Revolution is now clear to us; it was conservative; it had as its purpose the preservation of the ancient rights of English freemen, which were not new even when they were set out in the Great Charter of the day of King John; it represented an extension of the right of the people to govern themselves.' – Calvin Coolidge

 

He was against bigotry.

 

"Bigotry is only another word for slavery. It reduces to serfdom not only those against whom it is directed, but also those who seek to apply it. An enlarged freedom can only be secured by the application of the golden rule. No other utterance ever presented such a practical rule of life." – Calvin Coolidge

 

He practiced economy in government spending.

 

"I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical form." – Calvin Coolidge

 

"Debt reduction is tax reduction." – Calvin Coolidge

 

"What we need is not more Federal government, but better local government." – Calvin Coolidge

 

President Coolidge was not in favor of government intruding in the business world.

 

"The United States Government ought to keep from undertaking to transact business that the people themselves ought to transact. It can’t function along that line. As soon as the Government tries to transact such business, the people with whom it is being transacted don’t regard it as the Government’s business. They think it ought not to be done for the benefit of the Government in a way that would be for the benefit of the Treasury or all the people, but that it ought to be done for their benefit. And that always creates a situation that it is extremely difficult to contend with and one which is practically impossible. So that it is my policy, in so far as I can, to keep Government out of business, withdraw from that business that it is engaged in temporarily, and not to be in favor of its embarking on new enterprises." – Calvin Coolidge

 

He believed in the rights of private property.

 

“Ultimately, property rights and personal rights are the same thing." – Calvin Coolidge

 

"Coincident with the right of individual property under the provisions of our Government is the right of individual property. . . . When once the right of the individual to liberty and equality is admitted, there is no escape from the conclusion that he alone is entitled to the rewards of his own industry. Any other conclusion would necessarily imply either privilege or servitude." – Calvin Coolidge

 

President Coolidge was opposed to burdensome regulations.

 

"I am in favor of reducing, rather than expanding, Government bureaus which seek to regulate and control the business activities of the people." – Calvin Coolidge

 

"We have got so many regulatory laws already that in general I feel that we would be just as well off if we didn’t have any more.’’ – Calvin Coolidge