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The United States, a nation in crisis divided by war, racial hatred, spiraling
personal and governmental debts, growing trade imbalance, and an ever growing
dependence upon foreign oil - placing the nation's economy in the hands of OPEC,
rather than holding it as our own destiny. And I was six years old.
If you have never read or heard Jimmy Carter's speech of July 15, 1979 [1], you
should. If you just rolled your eyes, swallow your blind conservatism for a few
minutes and you might just learn something for once.
"We can't go on consuming forty percent more energy than we produce. When we
import oil we are also importing inflation plus unemployment." I have news for
you. It's not forty percent anymore. His talk that day wasn't just precient,
it was also deeply moral - far more so than I have heard from any politician
since. This is why the U.S. failed to re-elect him.
There is something deeply troubling in that the party of big business is the
same party that the religious conservatives espouse. The goals of business and
of piety are in conflict. But it is the way it is, and I'm not going to change
any minds with what I write here today. This entry is pointing the finger at
more than just the parties. I'm pointing it at, well, you.
Just stop and think for a moment. In an election year, a President asks his
people to examine their greed and decide what is best for everyone - in the
present and for the futue. And he was defeated in a landslide.
Everyone has heard J.F.K.'s "Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You" quote,
but who takes it seriously? People vote greed. People vote for the spread of
the homogenization of their own ideology. (Think Prop 8.) Franklin D.
Roosevelt was quite clear on this point: "The moment a mere numerical
superiority ... for their own selfish purpose or advancement, hamper or oppress
the minority ... that moment will mark the failure of our constitutional
system."
It will be 30 years this July since Carter's speech. He spoke of a failing
confidence in government, a growing self-indulgence, and a "growing doubt about
the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose." I often
find myself writing blog entries and not knowing where to take them - there is
too much material to cover and so little time to cover it. (Nobody reads these
things past the second paragraph.)
So what am I trying to say?
Your government is huge because you voted for the guy that made it huge. You
voted for the guy that helped you keep your car and avoid public transit. You
voted for the guy that built roads instead of trains. You voted for the larger
military. You voted for the guy that backed the US Patriot act. You still vote
for the guy that inflates Homeland Security. What's more, you failed to act
after the mistake was made.
You voted Carter out of office when he told you to wake up and smell the Carbon
Monoxide.
I actually remember that election. My mom was in the basement - wearing a
shirt with a huge, pointy collar and a green suit... I think. On a little tiny
television, I remember some anchor droning on about something that didn't make
sense or seem important to me, but it obviously disturbed my mom. I think she
was knitting. Common as the night may have seemed, I wonder how many people
would go back to that day and change their vote. It seems to me now that every
president since has been part of a single file of men who came from the
electoral bifurcation of that day.
[1] Jimmy Carter, July 15, 1979
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