RELIGION or POLITICS ? The Presidency and the Constitution cont'd.

(More of the the writings of US Representative. Mike Pence of Indiana, as presented in the monthly newsletter published by Hillsdale College.)


Hi faithful readers, good to have you here only two days before Thanksgiving. I do hope you readers will try to apprecaite what is being written here. In view of what lies ahead, in the opinion of wiser people than I, you should be forewarned to, if not already, wake up and smell the odor rediating form our Capital. Then, if not, you will be forced to, one day, I wish I had listened and acted like a real heads-up and country loving citizen of the United States of America. When you do you will be happy to do the right thing and help set the country straight, by throwing the rascals out in 2012...... To proceed.


      The powers of the presidency are extraordinary and necessarily great, and great presidents treat them sparingly.   For example, it is not the president's job to manipulate the nations's youth for the sake of his agenda or his party.    They are a potent political force when massed by the social network to which they are permanenetly attached.    But if the president has their true interests at heart he will neither flatter them nor let them adore him, for in flattery is condescension and in adoration is direction, and youth is neither seasoned nor tested enough to direct the nation.    Nor should it be the president's business to presume to direct them.   It is difficult enough to do right by one's own children.   No one can be the father of a whole continent's youth.


      Is the president, therefore, expected to turn away from this and other easy advantage?   Yes, like Harry Truman, who went to bed before the result of the election night, he must know when to withdraw, to hold back, and to forgo attention, publicity, or advantage.

      There is not finer, more moving, or more profound under-standing of the nature of the presidency and the command of humility placed upon it than that expressed by President Coolidge.    He, like Lincoln, lost a child while he was president, a son of sixteen.   "The day I became president,"  Coolidge wrote, "he had just started to work in a tobacco field,"   When one of his fellow laborers said to him, 'if my father was president I would not work in a tobacco field,'   Calvin replied, "if my father were yur father you would,"  His admiration for the boy was obvious.

      Young Calvin contracted blood poisoning from an incident on the South Laws of the White House.   Coolidge wrote, " What might have happened to him under other circumstances we do not know, but if I had not been president....." And then he continued,

      In his suffering he was asking me to make him well, I could not.   When he went, the power and glory of the Presidency went with him.


So much for this day, and thank you for visiting here. I will continue on friday and some most interesting stuff will be coming up.....do come back, and I trust you all will enjoy family, friends, and great food.  Lots and lots of cheers.       CJ