I've always appreciated Calvin Coolidge as a president, but as I have had the occasion to read and re-read his speeches, I realized I have underappreciated him as an orator and as someone with an ironclad understanding of our Founders. This is an excerpt from his 1926 speech commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence:

"Under a system of popular government there will always be those who will seek for political preferment by clamoring for reform. While there is very little of this which is not sincere, there is a large portion that is not well informed. In my opinion very little of just criticism can attach to the theories and principles of our institutions. There is far more danger of harm than there is hope of good in any radical changes. We do need a better understanding and comprehension of them and a better knowledge of the foundations of government in general. Our forefathers came to certain conclusions and decided upon certain courses of action which have been a great blessing to the world. Before we can understand their conclusions we must go back and review the course which they followed. We must think the thoughts which they thought. Their intellectual life centered around the meeting-house. They were intent upon religious worship. While there were always among them men of deep learning, and later those who had comparatively large possessions, the mind of the people was not so much engrossed in how much they knew, or how much they had, as in how they were going to live. While scantily provided with other literature, there was a wide acquaintance with the Scriptures. Over a period as great as that which measures the existence of our independence they were subject to this discipline not only in their religious life and educational training, but also in their political thought. They were a people who came under the influence of a great spiritual development and acquired a great moral power."

I thought a lot last night of Calvin Coolidge's clear understanding of the intent of the Founders and how they expressed that intent through the Declaration of Independence but when I look at the current placeholders in Washington and those clamoring for positions in the coming primaries, I see damn little of that understanding.

There are so few in the Republican party and as far as I can see right now, there is not a single person on the Democrat side that has any idea of what it means to be defined as an American using the same principles Coolidge understood as fundamental to our freedom.

And it makes me sad, and eventually it just makes me angry.

Reagan understood better than any modern president what it meant to adhere to those principles - at least he held office during a time that most Democrats were anti-communist - although the leftward shift was already underway.

Trump, for all the good things he did, was a reactionary president, one spawned by the need to push back against the collectivist ethos of the Obama era - the push back, he did.

Vivek Ramaswamy tossed his hat in the ring last night on Tucker Carlson's show - and while I don't think he has much of a chance, he will force other GOP hopefuls to address the very issues that must be addressed if we are to continue as a freedom loving representative republic. I love the guy - he is one of the few who loves this country and has put his money where his mouth is in fighting ESG and the stupid woke culture the left wears like a clown suit at Fashion Week.

We are led by a deadly combo - the stupid, the incompetent and the statolatrists.

For all the good they do, they might as well be building policies around the events that happened in Alice in Wonderland. While China drills their children in math, science and how to field strip weapons, we immerse ours in radical ideologies valuable only in fiction. We have entire city school systems that are producing children who cannot read, much less read at grade level.

What do we do?

Holy crap, people. Just stand up. The reality is that only about 20% of our nation is controlling the other 80% and that 20% is weak and foolish. We have allowed them to rule us.

I think it starts when people, at the neighborhood level, just say "FU. We are not doing this. Our schools are crap, our kids are better off at home reading the classics than being indoctrinated in worthless detritus. Our families are better off going to church and learning about God and the values of our parents and grandparents than they are being told men can be women if they want it bad enough. We are better off having less and teaching more. We're done."

There may come a time when have to literally take over local governments.

Again - we want to believe that it can't happen here, but the fact is that it won't until it does.

I didn't think a mentally compromised septuagenarian basement dweller could be elected president, but there we go.

None of us asked for this, but we have always had to deal with issues not of our own making.

And we will be forced to deal with this one.