Clear, accurate, conscious of liberty and sensible. Hat Tip: Doug Mataconis
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About Lance
I want to thank everybody who has encouraged me over the past few years to do this. I doubt it will hold but a few people's interest, but that is okay with me. Special thanks go to Peter over at http://www.liberalcapitalist.com.
I value my privacy a great deal, so I will guess you will have to get to know me over time to find out much. I am in the financial services, wealth management, investing or whatever you want to call it business. I have children, my oldest is entering college.
I have no great or imposing academic background, my grades varied from high enough to get invited to an honors program at my university to frustrating enough to cause my father great grief. My major was history, with a minor in ethics. My main interest towards the end was in the history of economic ideas before life took a turn and I ended up never going on to graduate school. However, I have a fair knowledge of history, economics, investing and would probably be considered well read. My tastes are eclectic and I pretty much find the entire world interesting.
I have an enduring interest in how people learn about and analyze the world; my posts here will examine this topic in detail over time. I make no claims to be above the very biases and errors I see in others, in fact it is my belief that we are incapable of escaping them, only moderating their control over us.
I am a member of no political party, but I would broadly consider myself a man of the right. I am inclined to free market economics, limited government and a fairly narrow view of the role of the state. A small L libertarian if you will. However, if you are looking for broad based "the left believes..." or "wingers are so...." types of attacks on liberals, conservatives, neo-cons or whatever enemy you want to slam, look elsewhere.
Lance
That’s a pretty cool find, Lance. I knew Coolidge had a reputation for shrinking government, but I don’t know much else about him. After brushing up at Wikipedia, he reminds me in many ways of Fred. Same sort of federalism; same attitude towards taxes and growth; same attitude towards farm subsidies; even a pretty similar campaigning style (which, ironically, suggests that Coolidge couldn’t be elected today, seeing as how he didn’t want it enough).
Anyway, good find.
Coolidge has always been one of my favorite presidents. I didn’t realize there were any movie recordings of him. Awesome to see.
He had other virtues as well. In an era when his political opponents, Wilson, Roosevelt, had decidedly atavistic views on race, Coolidge was in the fine tradition of early Republicans.
What was with that opening image? It looked awesome, but there is something sinister about having a bunch of elfish women and some goat playing a flute in the background of a presidential speech.
Maybe LaRouche was right…
Sounds like a Neocon to me. No wonder he, with the help of Hoover, lead us into the great depression. People fighting against Obama’s reforms ought to listen to this.
A neocon? Do you have any idea what neocon’s believe?
To place the blame for the Great Depression on Coolidge is ridiculous. Hoover maybe, and you are right, those resisting Obama’s policies should pay attention to Hoover, because Bush and Obama have done their best to go down the Hoover path. Contra myth, Hoover was an activist President whose spending profligacy and big government tendencies Roosevelt campaigned against. Of course, once in power he decided Hoover was right, and proceeded to increase governments role even more. How did that work out?
Anyway, Coolidge and Hoover could not have been more different, nor are Coolidge’s beliefs similar to neo-cons (who generally favor a large and active state, Coolidge most assuredly did not.) In fact, Neo-con philosophy is far more similar to Roosevelt than Coolidge, from the activist foreign and domestic policies, belief in large social safety nets and government organizations, and a belief that the state is more important than individual freedoms. Coolidge opposed all that.