THE FULLEST PRESIDENTIAL AND POST PRESIDENTIAL LIFE EVER!

By Edwin Cooney

   

Considering the experiences, style and structure of both his boyhood and adult life, it is tempting to assert that Jimmy has lived the most ongoing substantial life of any president of them all. The style and structure of his boyhood, his work, his play, his naval career, the depth of his religious beliefs and obligations, all fashioned his presidential and post presidential human activism.

It's possible to list his accomplishments below which I will do, but first I must acknowledge his main weakness as a president. Having campaigned for the presidency as an outsider, he failed to overcome his personal prejudices that invariably dictate any president's activities. He remained an outsider which invariably weakened his effectiveness as a president. 

Jimmy was more than an “adequate” politician since he did attain the office of the presidency on November 2nd, 1976 despite great odds. Most of his eventual failures as president were due to his lack of respect and even regard for politicians. Vice President Walter Mondale claimed that the worst advice you could give Jimmy Carter was that any proposal was politically wise. To Mr. Carter, politics often seemed downright sinful! 

His achievements by anyone's judgment are impressive, especially considering his differences with Congress! Here are some:

(1) The Camp David Accords brokered peace between Israel and
Egypt even with all its flaws and hazards. In order to sustain that peace, the Congress had to fund vital military elements. That peace is still in force!

(2) The Panama Canal Treaty which in addition to overcoming a crisis between the U.S. and Panama since 1964 (a crisis that Presidents Johnson, Nixon, and Ford had allowed to slide due to its controversial nature), brought about a new era of cooperation between the nations of North,  Central and South America. The treaty established a new era of political and social stability in some, though not all, Central and South American nations.

(3) He was responsible for deregulation of the trucking, telephone, and airline industry which increased their usefulness to a greater number of Americans by cutting costs and increasing competition.

(4) He normalized relations with China despite pressure from the powerful Taiwan lobby going back to the days of Chiang Kai-shek.

(5) His deregulation of the beer industry enabled thousands of enterprising citizens to realize prosperity by breaking the monopoly of the big beer and wine corporations.

(6) Despite liberal opposition, he appointed conservative Paul Volcker as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. This tightened the money supply so that eventually the effects of “stagflation” (a combination of high unemployment, low GDP, and high interest rates) were eventually overcome. Volcker was appointed in 1979, a time during which most liberals and progressives were fiercely calling for a return of New Deal programs to provide more jobs and other subsidies to build prosperity. Paul Volcker led the way to mid1980s prosperity which would be largely credited to Ronald Reagan rather than to Jimmy Carter.

(7) President Carter supported the establishment of FISA (the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) which was created in 1978 to monitor actions by those suspected of violating our national security.

(8) Jimmy Carter made human rights the cornerstone of his foreign policy which many came to believe was the force that ultimately brought down world Communism. However, that very cornerstone made Carter unpopular when he applied it to Israel's insistence on establishing settlements in occupied West Bank territories, alienating Jewish leaders both in Israel and at home.

Although Carter dearly wanted to be re-elected, he was much more interested in doing what was right than he was in doing what was politically popular. According to Kai Bird, who wrote the book "The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter,” he wasn't a weak man at all. He possessed a strong self image along with unwavering religious and social principles but he was fiercely determined to do things his way. He did go through a period of depression following his defeat. However, one night in January 1982, Rosalyn reported that Jimmy sat up straight in bed and when she asked him what was wrong he responded, ”I know what we can do! We can establish a center dedicated to problem solving and conflict resolution."

That set the stage for the rest of Jimmy Carter's post presidency. Conquering disease and mediating conflicts along with his participating in Millard Fuller's Habitat for Humanity project would bring meaning to Jimmy Carter's life and, at the same time, succor to millions around the world. 

One more observation: Most presidents during their time in office invariably bear the burden of the hundreds and thousands of deaths which occur during their term as Commander in Chief of our armed forces. The number of service men lost during the Carter administration, tragic as it was, consisted of eight men who perished during the April 1980 hostage rescue mission in Iran. However, few presidents are even eligible to be credited with the millions of lives Jimmy Carter not only saved but enhanced during his 98 plus years of life.

Was Jimmy Carter a "great" president or is he merely a "great" human being?

Perhaps he is both! Which one of the above would you rather be?

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY    

WHAT MAKES NUCLEAR WAR EITHER SENSIBLE OR EVEN PRACTICAL?

By Edwin Cooney

About ten days ago, I heard somewhere that Vladimir Putin suggested that perhaps around Friday, February 24th, which will mark the one year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he might use at least tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine's European and American allies.

The most immediate and compelling reaction to that threat is the question: what practical or worldly sense would the launching of tactical nuclear weapons make? Who would gain politically, socially, economically, or environmentally to any type of nuclear exchange?

Ever since President Ronald Reagan was introduced to the likelihood of a nuclear winter through Carl Sagan's documentary sometime around 1984 — thus ending Reagan’s "star wars" scheme — nuclear war strategy in most nations (with North Korea and Iran being notable exceptions) has been about the control or management of atomic destruction. Even in India and Pakistan, two nations that despise each other, there has been restraint. 

Here I pause in response to my own question with a notable historic review. On Monday, October 22,1962, during his radio and television response to Nikita Khrushchev's missiles in Castro's Cuba, President Kennedy asserted that "...even the fruits of victory would be ashes in our mouth." Additionally, knowledge of the damage of what just one nuclear explosion would do (especially considering the vulnerability of today's environment) has to be some kind of message to any world leader with future ambitions for his national constituency be he named Biden, China's Xi, North Korea's Kim, Turkey's Erdogan or even Russia's Putin! One of the world's deepest sighs of relief was when the 1986 nuclear accident in Chernobyl (which ironically is part of the Ukraine) turned out to be manageable.

As the cold war came to an end in 1991, some theorized that the reason "the Communists" gave in was because their beliefs were materialistic rather than spiritual. Hence, their nuclear demise wouldn't take them to any Valhalla. Next came the observation that total nuclear war with a spiritually-oriented society such as an Islamic, Judaic, or even a Christian society, due to their faith in a hereafter, would be absolutely deadly!

Now, back to the overall question as to what sense or advantage could there be in the threat of a total or merely a tactical nuclear exchange by Vladimir Putin? The primary obligation of every world leader's job is that of maximum control of every strategic international situation. Thus, control being the most vital factor in the management of international crisis, the threat of the most drastic response can keep the strongest of international opponents at bay.

The bottom line is that neither you nor I have any control over Putin or even Joe Biden in a kinetic part of war-making!

As frightening as all these factors are, it's vital to realize that no one will gain in the slightest should Russia, China, North Korea, India, Pakistan, Israel, Iran, or the United States of America use their maximum military might.

Past efforts to outlaw war such as the League of Nations in 1919, the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact, the birth of the U.N. in 1945, and the treaties with the Soviet Union beginning with the efforts of Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, and Bush have generally modified the threat of war.

From here on in, let's stop hoping what leaders will do to prevent war and start advising world leaders as follows:

Choose practicality over national vanity; select reason over ideological or religious resentment; remember, since the Almighty never intervened to stop Hitler's holocaust, you can't expect that He would prevent humanity's holocaust; keep in mind that only the living reap the benefit of any existing fruits; political or idealistic dominance can never feed a victorious nation and people surrounded on all sides by a radioactive polluted world.

Of course, nuclear war makes less sense than any war in the history of humankind! It can only be continuously stayed by the application of arduously prevailing wisdom!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN (MAGA): IT'S ALL A MIRAGE!

By Edwin Cooney

The next time you hear someone chant "make America great again," insist that that person tell you precisely when it was that America used to be great! Like every country on "God's green earth,” America could improve everything from its cost of living to the application of the golden rule! However, anyone who suggests that at one time we were "more perfect" than we are today is simply whistling Dixie!

As our founding fathers asserted, we established and ordained the Constitution to make a "more perfect" union, but those wig-headed sages never suggested that one day we'd be perfect enough to avoid significant changes in values by the next generation of Americans. The next question you might ask would be this: where else in the world could you live that might better meet your personal needs? Should they persist on insisting that they would rather live somewhere else, ask them what their level of respect is for the immigrants who are trying to escape destruction or death in their homes south of the border. Most people tend to stay put rather than move unless their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor are threatened by their circumstances.

It is tempting to list here imperfections from the slavery of Blacks to the genocide of Native Americans that mar great chunks of our history, but there are a few things we, the American people, don't quite grasp and we might be better off if we did.

First: we are far from being the only people on earth to be proud of our homeland. God didn't grant us this land as a reward for our faith! As I see it, God granted us the capacity to design a great nation. Others also possess the same capacity even if they don't use it to the maximum degree.

Living conditions invariably change thus creating challenges for every generation.

As for those who would make it illegal for teachers to educate their students about our past errors of judgment and treatment of minorities, lack of information regarding our social, political and legal errors will not prevent those errors from being made in the future!

Finally, America is a little like every one of its citizens. We are all a combination of vices and virtues. However, we are all vulnerable to bad assumptions and even presumptions. 

History is the record of all we've ever assumed, presumed, considered, done, and failed to do.

History is our emotional and intellectual map to the best possibilities for tomorrow!

Go ahead and read history. Indulge in it. History contains the most fascinating examples and stories.

You might even come to love history just as I do!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY