With the socio/political and even spiritual fabric of our
country seemingly so severely frayed these days—almost to the point of
tearing—it’s time, I believe, to reconsider a basic American understanding. With
that in mind, I present in its entirety a letter my dear friend and regular
editor of these musings recently sent me.
It’s to the New York Daily News.
The Original Spirit of America
Fort Lee, N.J.: On this Fourth of July, our
nation’s birthday, I think the words of a former President born on July 4,
Calvin Coolidge, define what we hope to be as Americans. On Jan. 17, 1924, in
front of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Coolidge said these
stirring words: “It is only those who do not understand our people who believe
that our national life is entirely absorbed by material motives. We make no
concealment of the fact that we want wealth, but there are many other things
that we want very much more. We want peace and honor and that charity which is
so strong an element of all civilization. The chief ideal of the American
people is idealism. I cannot repeat too often that America is a nation of
idealists.” Wow. Where have idealists gone in America? Politics seems to be
dominated by cynicism today. Gary Schwartz
Mr. Schwartz is right to ask that question especially since
most of us were raised and educated to believe that America was founded on
“ideals!” The fact of the matter is that
you, Mr. Schwartz, and I have been misled, not by a lie, but rather by a
myth. America never has been anyone’s
dream. America, as a result of its colonization, was a socio/political
inevitability. America was conceived and given birth for practical rather than
for idealistic reasons.
The colonists of George Washington’s, Benjamin Franklin’s,
John Adams’, Thomas Jefferson’s, John Hancock’s, and Paul Revere’s day weren’t
idealists. They were practical men of
commerce and politics. They realized
that the British King and Parliament were out of touch with the needs and
demands of 18th century colonial society. Idealism didn’t build
villages, towns and cities. Practical
necessity established a merchant marine, constituent assemblies, local
political justices and sheriffs, banks, colleges, hospitals and even libraries. These were and remain vital institutions of
practical living. The men listed above
weren’t dreamers, they were doers.
Washington didn’t possess a law degree nor did Franklin. If Jefferson, Adams and Madison steeped
themselves in Greek, Roman, French and even English law and philosophy, you can
be sure that the force that fueled their rebellion was primarily financial.
Our “Founding Fathers” regarded British taxation as a threat
to their livelihoods and their profits.
The Boston Massacre of March 1770 occurred because British soldiers were
being compensated for their royal service not by the British government, but by
local authorities who otherwise would have employed the good citizens of
Boston. Even more, the “Founding
Fathers” knew that the British government was taxing them to pay for a war that
hadn’t been waged for their safety as much as it was waged for the supremacy of
Britain. The colonists didn’t need Britain
to settle the continent; they knew they could more profitably do it themselves,
thank you!
As for Mr. Coolidge, although he was indeed a good and
decent man and leader, historians have found little idealism in his public
policies. Stirring as President Coolidge
may have been that day before the Society of Newspaper Editors, his insistence
that “...America is a nation of idealists” was patently false. Calvin Coolidge was, primarily and
fundamentally, a man of practicality.
Surely the Coolidges of rural New England weren’t above offering charity
to a worthy cause, but if they resisted anything more strenuously than charity,
it would have to be the plague.
Americans in President Coolidge’s day and even into the Great Depression
which occurred ten years later, resisted charity even when they needed it most. Hence, Mr. Coolidge
could and did—in good conscience—twice veto legislation that would have
provided assistance to hardworking farmers victimized, not by indolence, but by
the cruel extremes of climate. (Note: I
refer to the McNary-Haugen Farm Relief Bill.)
What is needed to cut through the
jealousy and resentment that pervades 21st Century American politics
is a new paradigm -- a change in the way we perceive and value our past as well
as the future hopes and dreams of our fellow citizens. If the rich could be admired rather than
envied, if the poor could be regarded as customers not inferiors, if assistance
could be seen as investments and if we’d allow ourselves to be curious rather
than suspicious about our differences in outlook and life style, the fruits of
idealism might well become a practical reality.
As I’ve written on several
occasions, another president from New England, John Kennedy, put it this way: “…the great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie: deliberate,
contrived, and dishonest, but the myth: persistent, persuasive, and
unrealistic. Mythology distracts us
everywhere.”
Yes, indeed, Mr. Coolidge is the
only president, so far, born on the Fourth of July. According to one story, his Fourth of July
birth was entirely a natural one, but an ever so slight forward positioning of
the hands of the family grandfather clock by the senior Coolidge made it a
practical one!
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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