IndigNation             WHAT'S GOT YOU HOT?

Do not believe for one minute that when former President Jimmy Carter uttered the words that George W. Bush is the worst president in our history that it was a mere slip of the tongue. It was not.

For Jimmy Carter has forever aligned himself with the dictators and despots of the planet. As such he is their mouthpiece, their megaphone to international legitimacy. Because an ex-president, no matter how dismal his presidency, has earned the right to speak and he will be quoted as if an expert.

About the only thing us peons out here in la-la land can do is continually, over and over without let up, tell the world what life was like under President James Carter. I, as expected, will never give up this holiest of charge. For I have a granddaughter and someday she will have children and in order for history to remain upright it is on us to keep the story of Jimmy Carter as leader right on course.

I was in my mid-20’s when James Carter won the presidency and to my everlasting shame, I think I even voted for the man.

I had a job and also attended night school. I was a pretty young thing, my future shining before me; I was the female symbol of all that is right about America. I was even a dewy-eyed liberal so don’t think I was the radical right-winger that I am today. I made love and not war. I wore flowers in my hair and marched bitterly against the Vietnam war. I’d suffered through some bad times with my country and when a mighty peace-loving Democrat was finally elected after the shame of Nixon and that nasty little war we lost, I considered it a bright day for America.

Heh.

We’ll get in to the more general mistakes that Jimmy Carter made later. For now, let’s talk about the two worst things any president can do to the United States of America that would bring this country down:

a)for the first time in our history, gasoline was scarce and gas lines made an appearance that we haven’t seen since.
b)home interest rates rose to the high teens, effectively blocking the only thing American Middle Class can aspire to in terms of pride and ownership

No country in the history of the world has survived without a mighty and happy Middle Class citizenry. You can have wise leaders and brave warriors all over the place but without a peaceful citizenry all pursuing their own brand of happiness while carrying the country on their collective backs you have, well you have Mexico, just to throw out an example. Mexico has no Middle Class. They have the rich and they have the poor. There has never been an effective democracy in Mexico.

It is within the reach of every American to obtain gas to travel and work and it’s also easily possible for even the poorest to buy a house. Take these two things away and boom, you destroy the country. It might take a while but eventually, without a vibrant Middle Class, the country goes the route of Mexico and who knows, Americans by droves will be fleeing to points south of the border that they may become illegal immigrants too.

Any president with a brain knows that keeping gas available and relatively cheap while keeping the road to home ownership open and easy is something that should be first on the presidential “todo” list. Jimmy Carter failed this test miserably.

I was fortunate enough, even at that young age, to already own my own home. It was a small thing, however, and once those interest rates began to soar to over 20% at one point, I knew I’d never sell the thing. All around me my friends who had been struggling to save up a down payment were sobbing that they could not, they simply could not, ever hope to own their own home.

As for the gas lines, I don’t pretend to understand the dynamics of gasoline pricing and availability. I can say that since the great gas lines of the Carter era that while the price of gasoline has risen and at times fluctuated wildly, there has NEVER been gas lines since. I must assume that Carter did something to cause the gas lines although I don’t know what. I’m thinking a collusion of sorts with the Arab oil holders to teach the Americans a lesson but this is just a guess.

The gas lines were a horror. Though I had a well-paying job, my nails were bitten down to nubs with the fear that I will not be able to get gasoline to get to work. AND I WAS in a carpool, thank goodness, but even at this I had to wait in gas lines for HOURS and with each passing minute I feared the gasoline would run dry and before I could gas up the “CLOSED” sign would be slapped on the pumps. Eventually localities across the fruited plains had to implement an “odd-even” license tag program. On odd-numbered days folks with license tags ending in odd numbers could gas up and the same for even numbers. Of course this caused the rise of weird crimes. Gasoline stations were often vandalized in the middle of the night and the theft of auto tags reached a new high.

So after failing these two simple presidential tasks, we also had a terrible economy. There were no new business start-ups, unemployment was high, I spent my nights in constant worry that I would lose my job. After several cutbacks at my company I ended up low man on the seniority totem pole. So if I couldn’t get gas I would surely lose my job. My house was falling down around me but I couldn’t sell it. I was one miserable American at the tender age of 24. No one should have to be so unhappy, uncertain and filled with fear at such a tender age when the vibrancy of life should have been laying bright and colorful before me.

After the gas lines, the interest rates and the fear of losing my job, I stopped being a liberal. I hated President Jimmy Carter so much the bile would rise in my throat at the thought of the man. In fact, ole Jimmah’s approval rating fell to 21%, the lowest in the history of the planet. Please remember this when they complain about George Bush’s approval rating.

Oh but there’s more. Jimmy Carter actually complained that Americans weren’t optimistic enough. He even complained about the general sense of national doom and he created something called a “malaise” factor. This malaise factor actually measured how unhappy America was, can you imagine such a thing?

Because of the gas lines everyone got all concerned about conservation. Thus we didn’t have Christmas lights due to the “need” to save electricity. Can you imagine a year with no gaily colored Christmas lights? Yet our President would get on TV and smile that buggy smile and ask us to curtail the Christmas lights for the sake of the country. But wait! On one national address or another, Carter mentioned that he liked to run a fire at Camp David but since it was summer, he had to turn the air conditioner on high to create enough chill to warrant a fire.

I’m not making this up! While we were all waiting in gas lines and doing without Christmas lights, this man was running an air conditioner on high so he could have a frigging fire in the fireplace?

The absolute worst episode in the Carter presidency was the Iran hostage crisis. Indeed the Iranians up and captured Americans in the Iranian embassy and held them captive for over 400 days. By the time this happened I was beaten and worn down. America had zero respect and credibility in the world. Our national psyche had been essentially conditioned to expect that our citizens can be captured by foreign countries and held hostage at will. There was far too little outrage over the incident. If such a thing happened today the national hue and cry would be deafening. President Carter taught us well how to expect nothing and be grateful for just a little.

Ronald Reagan won the election against Carter in a veritable landslide. The day of the Reagan inauguration Iran released our hostages. This was NOT a coincidence.

So everytime Jimmy Carter opens his evil mouth I am going to be his “killer rabbit” and tell the true story of his presidency. I was there. Let us not forget the pain and damage this man brought to this country.

Unfortunately for Mr. Carter, he didn’t damage America’s Middle Class enough to wipe us out. For we managed to kick him out of office with no regret. Now if we can only shut him up as an ex-President. This man has no right to criticize any president.