President Calvin Coolidge warned in a speech given MAY 15, 1926, at the College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, Virginia:
"But there is another...recent development... the greatly
disproportionate influence of organized minorities.
Artificial propaganda, paid agitators, selfish interests, all impinge upon members of legislative bodies
to force them to represent special elements rather than
the great body of their constituency.
When they are successful,
minority rule is established...
The result is an extravagance on the part of the Government which is
ruinous to the people
and a multiplicity of regulations and restrictions for the conduct of
all kinds of necessary business, which becomes little less than
oppressive..."
Coolidge continued:
"
No plan of centralization has ever been adopted which did not result in
bureaucracy, tyranny, inflexibility, reaction, and decline.
Of
all forms of government, those administered by bureaus are about the
least satisfactory to an enlightened and progressive people. Being
irresponsible they become autocratic...
Unless
bureaucracy is constantly resisted it breaks down representative government and
overwhelms democracy.
It...sets up the pretense of
having authority over everybody and being responsible to nobody..."
Coolidge added:
"We must also recognize that the
national administration is not and
cannot be adjusted to the needs of local government...
The
States should not be induced by coercion or by favor to
surrender the management of their own affairs.
The
Federal Government ought to
resist the tendency to be loaded up with duties which
the States should perform.
It does not follow that because something
ought to be done the
National Government ought to do it...
I want to see the policy adopted by the
States of discharging their public functions so faithfully that instead of an extension
on the part of the Federal Government there can be a contraction...
The
principles of government have the same need to be fortified, reinforced, and supported that characterize
the principles of religion."
Calvin Coolidge stated at the unveiling of Equestrian Statue of Bishop Francis Asbury, October 15, 1924, Washington, DC:
"There are only two main theories of government in the world.
One rests on righteousness, the
other rests on force.
One appeals to reason, the
other appeals to the sword.
One is exemplified in a republic, the
other is represented by a despotism.
The
history of government on this earth has been almost entirely a history of the
rule of force held in the hands of a few. Under our Constitution,
America committed itself to...the
power in the hands of the people...
Our government rests upon religion.
It is from that source that we derive our reverence for truth and
justice, for equality and liberty, and for the rights of mankind.
Unless the people believe in these principles they cannot believe in our government."
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President Calvin Coolidge stated on September 21, 1924, in an address to the Holy Name Society in Washington, D.C.:
"
Equality is recognized...
from belief in the brotherhood of man through the fatherhood of God...
It seems perfectly plain that the right to
equality has for its foundation
reverence for God.
If we could imagine that swept away our American government could not long survive."
Calvin Coolidge stated at the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Philadelphia, July 5, 1926:
"
The principles...which went into the Declaration of Independence...are found in...
the sermons...of the early colonial clergy who were earnestly undertaking to
instruct their congregations in the great mystery of how to live.
They preached
equality because they believed in the
fatherhood of God and
the brotherhood of man. They justified
freedom by the text that we are
all created in the divine image...
Placing every man on a plane
where he acknowledged no superiors, where no one possessed any right to rule over him, he must inevitably choose his own rulers through a system of self-government...
In order that they might have freedom to express these thoughts and opportunity to put them into action,
WHOLE CONGREGATIONS WITH THEIR PASTORS MIGRATED TO THE COLONIES..."
Coolidge concluded:
"
The Declaration of Independence is a great spiritual document...
Equality,
liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man - these are...ideals.
They have their source and their roots in the religious convictions.
They belong to the unseen world.
Unless the faith of the American in these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will perish. We can not continue to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the cause."
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