In Memory Of President Jimmy Carter!

I was going to write a brief essay explaining how I feel about the late Jimmy Carter and how I think the fact we were cheated out of a second term led by this great and exceptionally good man, when I ran across this TikTok video essay which said all I wanted to say and said it better. 

With Respect. 

And with this post I'm closing up shop here for now. I might feel compelled to composes future responses to events, but frankly I'm tired of waiting for the shoes to drop, and I don't want the daily stress of following the ups and downs to drag down my health which is showing its age. And even more frankly, I don't want to listen to the squabbling. It's not the most responsible thing I can do, but for now I'm going to seal myself away from news for the most part, and I wait for baseball season. They can't stop that can they? Can they?

Thanks to all those who have held the flame and responded to my rants. It's much appreciated. Business will continue as usual at the Dojo, so I hope to see everyone there. 

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What Me One Hundred?

Former President Jimmy Carter is 100 years old today. A remarkable feat for anyone, especially a man who saw the stress of four years in the White House. That has to shave off at least a few years. Carter came into office in the wake of Watergate. He was the Democratic answer to a Republican problem. (Sound familiar?) He came to Washington as a successful governor of Georgia and brought with him a team which took some time to find its footing in the White House. Not unlike Barrack Obama he had some difficulty finagling with Congress, especially in a time mired in a lackluster economy.

But he was the man who brokered the first peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. He saw the future and knew that coal and oil were the energy source of the past. I often imagine what the world might have been like for Americans if we had as a nation embraced the changes Carter sought. He was the President who truly brought the Vietnam War to an end when he pardoned those who had escaped the clutches of the draft.  His work with Habitat for Humanity has been transformative in the public mind, and suggests that Presidents need to be more than just onlookers when they leave office. He might has lusted in his heart, but he and his wife Rossalyn brought dignity to an office which has in recent memory been disgraced. 

It was a flagging economy and a failed efforts to rescue the Iranian hostages which denied Carter a second term. The former he could only endure and lead us through, the latter was actively undermined we learn in recent years by his political opponent Ronald Reagan. I am shocked that more is not made of this stunning news, especially in a time when such behavior has become normalized by the Republican Party. 

In the final analysis though, Jimmy Carter had the makings of a great President, but he has remained all his long life a great man. Happy Birthday Jimmy! 

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