John Derbyshire, speaking as the character Chai, writes of Coolidge, “Closer study revealed some harmonics. Humor, certainly. Something in the turn of the mouth…something impish, irreverent, boyish. Yet a steadiness in the eyes–a certitude weightier than mere smugness. Beneath the clerkishness, great strength and wisdom. I trusted this man at once, and wanted to know him better” (‘Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream,’ p.23).

The trust he earned went deeper than his office, it went to the soundness of his character, the power of his philosophy, the confidence without arrogance that he conveyed and the consistency of his actions.

This is what makes him so threatening to those who reject the finality of what the Founders discovered regarding human nature and society. In place of truths like equality before God and a government of limited power, there has come an institutionalized inequality maintained through a virtually unlimited control by a few. America’s experiment of self-government, with its moral nature cut away, is fast becoming the playground of despots and libertines.

It is up to us, serious-minded and mature citizens, to summon the courage and responsibility necessary to be worthy of freedom.