The greatest compliment to President Jimmy Carter: the scads of third world
dictators, torturers, and murderers who expressed their relief when he was
knocked out of office by Ronald Reagan. Thank god! Finally an
end to all the hassles about human rights, for heaven's sake.
The attitude of many European leaders to Carter: I
remember reading about it at the time and being rather flabbergasted that
they seemed to prefer the worldy and "sophisticated" Nixon. I thought
Nixon was the bad guy, bombing Cambodia, rattling the sabres, promoting the
nuclear deterrent.
It turns out the Europeans appreciate someone who understands that you have
to break a few eggs to make an omelets, as they say. Well, no, let's
say: you have to kill people to get what you want.
It's complicated.
I have long regarded Jimmy Carter as the only real
Christian president of the last 50 years. He has recently given
a number of interviews with the publication of "White House Diary", an
account of his four years in the White House.
Carter used to carry his own
luggage, even as president. He also put a stop to the absolutely inane
practice of playing "Hail to the Chief" every time the president enters a
room.
Did you you hear that, tea party Republicans? You howl about
your politicians being corrupted by Washington. So how did people
react when Carter put a stop to paid musicians following him around with
idiotic tributes every time he met with the public? They hated him.
They hated him when he put solar panels on the White House and Ronald
Reagan, in a monumental act of mindless spite, had them removed.
They hated him most of all when he preached to America, when he suggested
that people learn to postpone gratification, make sacrifices for the greater
good, and stop indulging in mindless consumerism.
Frank Capra used to make
movies about naive innocents of pleasant virtue suddenly being thrust into
corporate or political rats' nests of corrupt decadence. In the Capra
films, virtue triumphed and "the people" came to the rescue. Well, no
they didn't-- check out "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". It's actually
one of the most darkly cynical movies about politics ever made.
So Carter kept America out of a war with Iran, and he cut U.S. dependence
on foreign oil by substantial amounts, and his conservation policies
produced stunning gains in efficiencies. And he was vilified by
Republicans for leaving office with a deficit of about $45 billion.
Ronald Reagan came in and tackled that deficit problem: he ran it up to $450
billion by the time he left office, but you should hear Republicans wax
nostalgic about the "great" Ronald Reagan. It took another "liberal" (by American
standards), Bill Clinton, who got the deficit under control.
The closest
recent presidential candidate to Jimmy Carter was Al Gore, who, similarly,
understood that some self-restraint and sacrifice is good for the country.
Gore was smart and fairly virtuous-- as politicians go-- and he seemed more
rueful than disappointed when the Supreme Court paid its debt to the
Republican Party and put Bush into office. Gore, like Carter, was a
bit of a moralist. He liked to lecture people about social virtue.
Americans don't like that. Gore might well be the
best president the U.S. never had.
Since he left office, Carter has made a
career out of volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, various peace
missions, and living modestly on his farm indulging his grand-children.
Everyone calls him the best ex-president there ever was. He may also
have been the most responsible president there ever was, but his reward was
to be ridiculed by the very people who elect those characterless, corrupt
politicians over and over again to undo all the good policies Carter
implemented.
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© Bill Van Dyk
2010 All Rights Reserved
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