12/31/2024
America lost a very decent man this week. Jimmy Carter was a great President. Not Abraham Lincoln-great. Not George Washington or Thomas Jefferson-great. But great, nonetheless.
What made him great was his humility. His faith. His honesty. His flaws. I once had an opportunity to shake his hand and exchange three or four brief words with him. I could feel that greatness.
I, along with millions of other Americans, watched him struggle with the Iran hostage crisis. And because too many of us thought he had failed us, we didn't allow him a second term in the Oval Office. He had negotiated the release of those hostages after a grueling 444 days. And when they were released on the very day his predecessor was being inaugurated into Office, that predecessor assumed the credit without even inviting Jimmy Carter up on stage to raise their arms, jointly, in victory. That was the day I lost faith in my long-beloved Republican Party, the party I had been "trained' to believe in by my own father and grandfather. It was the Republican Party that allowed my grandfather to buy a new DeSoto every year. It was the Republican Party that stood for God, patriotism and the American way.
It was Dwight Eisenhower who came home as the conquering hero while Harry Truman ducked in the shadows of the bomb that ended the war. And while JFK's assassination brought the nation together in tears, Richard Nixon's scandalous crime wave tore us apart. LBJ wanted a great society. Spiro Agnew and Bill Clinton had their own problems. George H.W. Bush threw up at a state dinner. His son got to play fighter pilot for a day. Eagleton, Muskie and Perot all were victims of the ever-encapsulating, increasingly vicious bag of GOP 'dirty tricks'.
And then this unassuming, little peanut farmer from some place in Georgia nobody ever heard of admitted in a 'Pl***oy' interview that he might have lusted after women before. And he brought a breath of fresh, clean air to America again. And, along with it, he brought a peanut-sack full of insightful policies, clear ideas, and workable new programs that helped all Americans, not just those at the top, or those who were white and rich. And he brought a legitimate attempt at trying to bring peace to a troubled world.
Jimmy Carter made America great again.
From there, things kinda went downhill. Wilbur Mills and Fannie May were almost something right out of a Li'L Abner comic strip. Bill Clinton and Paula and Monica might have blown things out of political proportion. Until we finally ended up with an incompetent, overblown ill-informed egoist sitting on the edge of his Oval Office chair as if he was was trying to take a Presidential dump. In four years, he bumbled and stumbled and blathered and babbled without making a lick of sense or properly constructing two simple sentences. For almost one full year of his term, he played golf. For at least another full year of his term, he tweeted until three in the morning and gobbled down Big Macs with a double order of fries, please.
Joe Biden finally wrestled the reins of leadership back into some semblance of normalcy after we were all advised to drink bleach if we wanted to avoid catching the dreaded COVID. Sadly, Joe ended up with his own set of issues which the public was frightened into believing was worse than it really was; but it forced Joe out and introduced Kamala to a whole new breed of voters who had been spoon-fed a lot of misconceptions, lies and innuendoes. In eight short years, we'd become a nation of hate; of gobbledy-gook; of not being able to distinguish what was truth and reality and what was a pack of lies, vicious name-calling and deliberately executed misinformation.
Until it became such a potpourri of galleywagging, trumped-up stories and prevarication, that both sides had a hard time trying to believe what they claimed to believe! Biden had won the popular vote by more than seven million. It was hard to conceive that many of those seven million people might change their minds, even considering the accusations and insinuations about Biden's mental capacities.
Still, sufficient numbers of new voters turned out, or former voters changed their minds and Kamala conceded the election. To my knowledge, no one is contesting the outcome; no one has been accused of 'stealing' the election or 'rigging' the votes. There's been no investigation into any suspected fraudulent ballot irregularities [and I can't imagine why that hasn't happened, given the GOP penchant for, and history of, cheating in the past]. But Kamala didn't win.
Instead. we have a slovenly, gluttonous, bloated, loathsome shell of a man who thinks only of himself and his own self-interests. He exploits the highest Office in the land for his own benefit, for his own grandiosity and greed. He shows no genuine concern for the common good, nor does he share any empathy for those of lesser means or with smaller fortunes than his own. And he's going to be our next President, barring any unforeseen circumstances.
He has proven himself to be a pathological liar, shows obvious signs of mental abrogation, severe psychosis and dementia. He is slow-witted, narcissistic and unintelligent. But his mental illness is not what's most disturbing. It's his brazen lack of character, integrity and humanity that gives many of us reason to shudder.
Unlike Benedict Arnold, who stuffed a few secret documents in his long stockings, he stole box loads of highly classified government documents and stored them in his bathroom until they overflowed into a nearby staging area. They were stored as sloppily as they were apparently 'secured' by government officials [I always presumed that top secret government documents were retained in a secure location, numbered, dated and closely monitored as to who had access to them and how they were handled; evidently, that's not the case]. And one can only presume that those documents were taken in hopes of selling them to the highest bidder (Xi, Kim, or Putin, perhaps). What other reason would there be for hauling off boxes and boxes of documents? I seriously doubt he would need them for 'reading material' in his golden-throned bathroom.
Assuming the public and/or the Courts choose not to accept stealing top secret documents as a blatant act of treason, consider January 6, 2021 when he - very publicly - committed the very definition of sedition by inciting an insurrection which resulted in millions of dollars in damage to the people's Capital building; caused multiple injuries and deaths, and threatened the life of the Vice-President of the United States. He directed his followers to "march" to the Capital and assured them - in front of TV cameras - that he would be right there with them [he was prevented from joining the melee' at the behest of the U.S. Secret Service because they thought he would be in danger!]. It's hard to imagine any more flagrant act of treason against the United States Constitution and its legally-empowered government. And, yet, he will probably go unpunished for such a heinous atrocity. In fact, it's almost certain he will rewrite history to clear himself of all criminal charges that have been thrown at him.
Our leaders should be men and women of the highest character, utmost integrity and impeccable honor. Sadly, few of them are capable of standing up to that standard these days; but, with the exception of a few unsavory individuals, most of our nation's Presidents and Vice-Presidents have - throughout our history - tried to hold to that bar. Again, he hasn't. He is a convicted s*xual predator. He is an admitted serial adulterer. He has bragged about grabbing women by their ge****ls just because he can. He's been taped having what appears to be a lively conversation with a s*x trafficker billionaire who allegedly killed himself rather than face the consequences of his despicable actions [why hasn't a lip-reader been hired to determine what's being said?]. He paid a p**n star to keep quiet about their illicit s*xual liaison. Most recently, he chose an alleged s*x trafficker and pe*****le to be his incoming Attorney General.
He's been convicted of thirty-four felony crimes. He was impeached during his last term in the Oval Office - not once, but twice. But, all of those charges being hailed as a "witch hunt" or a "hoax"; a whole slew of attorneys general, lawyers, judges and prosecutors are 'out to get him', and are willing to risk their professional careers just to go after an innocent man. How does that make sense in any way, shape or form?
He lacks even a modicum of good character, humility or human decency. He is morally, physically and mentally unfit to serve as a United States President (not to mention, legally; which brings to question why that challenge hasn't yet been brought forward).
Considering his lifetime of unethical, possibly illegal, immoral and underhanded malfeasance, it seems he would be a prime target for blackmail. Should America find itself in any kind of international or domestic crisis during the next four years, it is very apparent he is not capable of dealing with it in any logical, rational, humanitarian manner. And, it's just as obvious that he is not assembling any kind of remotely qualified staff to deal with such delicate issues.
And yet, we the people voted for him. We, the people will have to live with the consequences of our own lack of understanding, research, or voting integrity. We watched the sound bites; listened to the commercials and were entertained by the off-the-wall rallies. We believed.............just like we believed that "Duz does it better" and how we saw "the USA in our Chevrolet" and that "This Bud's for You'.
We bought in to it; now we, the people, own it.
There are those who will say, "You should give him a chance to prove himself; give him the benefit of the doubt." I gave him a chance in 2016; I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I voted for him, hoping that he would 'grow into the job'. Just as I thought Ross Perot would. I had the privilege to meet Perot, and I assumed he might try to be a 'little dictator' at first, but would eventually find a way to work with Congress to get things done. Now we have a weak-minded, weak-willed man who is so insecure, he promises to be a dictator "on Day One"....and that, to my mind, is terrifyingly reminiscent of a little dictator who came to power ninety-odd years ago and no one paid any attention to when he invaded Poland, which only emboldened him to go on to conquer most of the rest of Europe.
It's as reminiscent of another little dictator who came along a decade or so later and casually noted how it's not important who votes; what's important is who counts the votes.
And now America has its own little dictator who thinks he can buy Greenland just because he wants it; who doesn't understand how increased tariffs get passed on to the consumer, and who thinks it's a good idea to pull out of NATO! America has never been in more danger of being less great.
We the people bought in to it; we the people now own it. -RKO-
