RIP Jimmy Carter

This place could use some fixin.’

 

I am 75. Obama is the only President in. my lifetime who was younger than me during his administration. That's pretty fucked up. The first election in which I voted I voted for Joe Biden, who at the time became the youngest US Senator.

 

My first election was 1992 and I remember thinking how cool it was someone my parents' age was the President. It's not as cool it's happening yet again (fortunately my Dad agrees, b/c I feel terrible for those who are dealing with Trumpies as parents).

 

That was also my first presidential election. It's funny that you mentioned dealing with Trumpist parents. I keep wondering who my parents would have supported. I think my mother would have voted for Harris, but I am certain my father would have gone all-in for Trump. After a lifetime as a successful salesman, he always appreciated a good con. My older brother was a big Trump fan. He was also a con man, a thief, and a drug addict, so that tracks.

 

I think my Mom would have agreed w/my Dad and voted D the last two elections. (Dad sat out 2016 and I suspect she would have too...no one really took that one seriously, alas, we should have) She was pretty conservative, but like my Dad, religious and a hater of indecency and cruelty. I don't think she could have stomached voting for Trump. Too bad my sister, their only other child, is not only a full-blown Trumpy but the only person I know who has yet to mock me over the election results. Oh well.

 

I think my Dad would have been quietly behind Trump. My Mom was so apolitical, I can't even imagine.

 

You know, Carter nailed it with his Crisis in Confidence address (aka the Malaise speech).

In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We’ve learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.
...
What you see too often in Washington and elsewhere around the country is a system of government that seems incapable of action. You see a Congress twisted and pulled in every direction by hundreds of well-financed and powerful special interests.

You see every extreme position defended to the last vote, almost to the last breath by one unyielding group or another. You often see a balanced and a fair approach that demands sacrifice, a little sacrifice from everyone, abandoned like an orphan without support and without friends.
...
We are at a turning point in our history. There are two paths to choose. One is a path I’ve warned about tonight, the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. That path would be one of constant conflict between narrow interests ending in chaos and immobility. It is a certain route to failure.





Jimmy Carter - A Crisis of Confidence Speech - American Rhetoric

 

There is a really good book about that by Kevin Mattson.

 

If you haven't seen it or want to see it again and have streaming access to a CNN hub, they've got Rock and Roll President up now to watch.

 

Stinky is the Lawrence Welk President.

 

Show tunes.

 

OK, I will.