Jimmie Carter was born on the first of October 1924. Yesterday, he turned 89, and it may be
a good reason to complete quoting and reviewing parts of his diary on his 89th birthday.
Jimmie Carter is the oldest living president of the United
States. He may also be remembered as the last US president who was concerned
about world peace, human rights, Israel as a rogue state, social welfare,
prevention of environmental degradation, a health system for all, free
education, and a more equitable distribution of wealth in his country. Of
course he could pursue these goals so long as the system governing the policies
of the United States would allow him. The difference between a system, state,
or regime and a government has been discussed before. Such regimes employ
governments, along with legislative and judicial system, (and in some cases
military) to ensure the continuation of policies, to protect it from the silent
majority and from other states. Of course, as the regime modifies its policies,
some of those apparatuses may not adhere to them, which may lead up to the
removal of the instrument from office. That may be the reason for Cater
administration not surviving more than one term. Needless to say that he was
replaced with one of the most reactionary presidents this country had seen. Of
course, we witnessed less qualified and more reactionary presidents since then.
Empire- Instigating wars:
The US government has been making war in order to benefit
from arm sales for as long as the history can testify. President Eisenhower
spoke of the danger of military industrial complex in his farewell speech of
January 17, 1961.
As war veteran and general himself, his words should have been a warning to
those who controlled the three pillars of the US government. Unfortunately,
like many other well-wishers’ warnings of dangers of militarization and oligarchy,
it fell onto deaf ears. Israeli government is pursuing the same path, with the
assistance and support of the US government, of course:
[Notes for the book] When I became president, most of the
regimes in South and Central America were military dictatorship. Historically,
the U.S. government under both Democratic and Republican presidents had
supported the dictators and strongly opposed-
often with U.S. Marines or army troops- any popular uprising of indigenous or
minority citizens that threatened the status quo… Many of the leaders have been
trained at West Point or Annapolis… and eager to form lucrative partnerships
with American corporations that had an interest in natural resources of the
country involved… Catholic priests who supported the poor and subjugated
citizens were condemned by the Vatican as practicing ‘liberation theology’,”
7/20/1979 (P. 346). “He
[Admiral Hyman G. Rickover was known as the father of the nuclear navy] thinks
the military-industrial complex is ten times more of a threat to this nation
now than it was when Eisenhower went out of office,” 12/10/1980 (P. 492).
With regards to the US policies concerning Israel, it has
always been clear for any administration what Zionism is aiming for, but the
government always assisted every Israeli government in achieving their goals. A
documentary called Alnakba
explains the history and the foundation of Israel:
“[Maryland senator Charles] Mathias gave me a report on his
opinions about Israel, which confirmed what we’ve always said: the Israelis for
a number of years have never intended to withdraw from the West Bank and their
major commitment, regardless of party, is to maintain the status quo and
basically let us pay for it,” 6/7/1977
(P. 62).
With the absence of Soviet Union from international scene,
the US government had one of two paths to follow: to become the capitalist of
the world and try to enslave people and exploit all natural resources to the
point of global catastrophe and put down any resistance militarily, or to use
its power and influence to create a caring and a humane world based on the
humans’ natural tendencies. It unfortunately adopted the former path:
“Since my tenure, attitudes have changed profoundly, and
American forces have been directly engaged- often gratuitously- in Lebanon,
Grenada, Panama, Kuwait, Somalia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and
Iraq…. President George W. Bush encapsulated this more bellicose attitude by
announcing an official policy of ‘preemptive war’ to replace our historic
practice of attacking other nations only when our own security was directly
threatened,” afterword (P. 534). “I told Cy we absolutely had to hold down arms sales around
the world, including the Middle East-Persian Gulf area…Our policy of severely
restricting arms sales was abandoned by all my successors. U.S. sales are now
about $38 billion annually, equal to the combined sales of all other
weapons-producing nations. Sales in 2009 reflected a 465 percent growth just in
the last ten years,” 10/22/1977(P. 122).
Of course, Carter had to cave in to military industrial complex:
“Cy, Fritz, and Zbig, and I discussed the arms sale list
for 1978 fiscal year- a substantial reduction below ’77, but it would include
perhaps a comprehensive package with F-5s to Egypt, F-15s to the Saudis, and
F-16s to the Israelis,” 12/2/1977 (P. 143).
The US is demanding Syria to destroy all its chemical ammunitions
while there is a large volume of chemical weapons that our government is
keeping without adhering to international law of destroying them. Nuclear is of
the issue with the US and Israel:
“After lunch I told Jim Callaghan my concerns about the
neutron bomb. He said it would not be deployed in Great Britain and that it
would be the greatest relief in the world if we announce that we weren’t going
to go ahead with it,” 3/23/78 (P. 180).
Although Carter has a good assessment of the situation, he neglects
to mention that the war is instigated and created by the US policies:
“[Notes for the book] Some political scientists predict
that cultural and religious differences will lead inevitable to global
struggle. I fervently hope this will not occur, but it has become increasingly
obvious since my time as president that the inter-relationship between religion
and major political events has become more intimate- and deadly. The Iran-Iraq
war was partially caused by differences in Islamic belief. The two U.S.
invasions of Iraq, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the war in
Afghanistan all pitted Western forces, largely Christian, against Muslim
opponents. The same general orientation is obvious in Sudan and less clearly
divided local conflicts, as in Somalia. A long-lasting conflict with great
negative influence on world peace is caused by the continued Israeli presence
in Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon, and the sometimes violent reaction of the
occupied Arabs,” (P. 279).
However, Carter’s humanity is disclosed here and there:
“We [my advisors and I] met on the Caribbean and Central
America, and I was disgusted with the proposals, recommending military action,
gunboats, intelligence activities, how we can manipulate elections, et cetera,” 10/19/1979 (P. 363).
Beginning of US involvement in creating Taliban:
“While I was out running, Jody said The Washington Post had
a story concerning our feeding military equipment to Afghan rebels through
Pakistan. If this is published, it would be very damaging to our relationship
with Pakistan,” 2/12/1980 (P. 401). “There’s a flap in the Senate and the Jewish community
about possible improvements to the F-15s we sold to the Saudis. I approved a
letter stating that we would not permit these planes to be offensively capable
against Israel. There is some indication in Afghanistan that the SA-7s
[shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles] are being used effectively against
attack helicopters,” 7/18/1980 (P. 447).
Another fair assessment:
“[Notes for the book] In 2007, despite his [Helmut
Schmidt] general compatibility with Republican leaders in the United States, he
issued a statement saying that the United States was a greater threat to world
peace than Russia, and condemned the invasion of Iraq as ‘a war of choice, not
a war necessity.’ Though Schmidt’s criticism of our country was often
unwarranted, I agreed with this latter statement,” (P.440).
Discrimination:
Racial discrimination is so much engrained in American culture that
it is as American as apple pie! It is a powerful tool in dehumanizing a group
of people, and making ordinary foot soldiers considering them as equal and
eager to show any brutality feasible. Although Carter does not sanction it, but
creating racial division has always been a part of the government’s policies:
“Early on, when Rosalynn was visiting the White House, some
of our staff asked the chef and cooks if they thought they could prepare the
kind of meals which we enjoyed in the South, and the cook said, ‘Yes, ma’am,
we’ve been fixing that kind of food for the servants for a long time,’” 1/21/1977 (P. 11). “I signed
the ERA extension… Fifteen states have not ratified it; still three to go
before we have the requisite thirty-eight. [Notes for the book] This
legislation extended the deadline for ratification from 1979 until June 1982…
Despite widespread public support for granting American women equal rights with
men, some church leaders- Catholic, Protestant, and Muslims- opposed the
amendment. By exerting their influence, they probably made the difference,” 10/20/1978 (P. 254).
“It’s interesting that the Ku Klux Klan endorsed Reagan and
made an announcement that the Republican platform could have been written by a
Klansman,” 8/6/1980 (P. 454).
Rich in mind:
The capitalism practiced in the US is far from what Adam Smith
theorized. With the Federal government shut down of this month stemming from
Republicans’ policies, it is evident that the oligarchy controlling the
government is determined to take the society back a class system based on
wealth. This may succeed, however the outcome of the undeniable backlash cannot
be predicted:
“Began my first visit to the different departments today
with the Labor Department. They tell me that since the Department of Labor was
founded fifty years ago, no president had ever been there,” 1/9/1977 (P. 18). “Met with [Federal Reserve Chairman] Arthur Burns…Dr. Burns
is quite concerned about some of the reported changes in income tax law. Of
course, he’s almost 100 percent attuned to the business community,” 9/29/1977 (P. 110).
As of last year, over two million American were incarcerated, which
includes 1.3% of every male American. This figure is definitely increased since
then, considering that prison is now a private business and having people in
jail will benefit investors! It started with making money out of sick people by
privatizing medical system; followed by privatizing legal system, and selling
public properties to rich individuals. A new brand of feudalism combined with bourgeoisie
and capitalism is being created:
“We cautioned against filling up our prisons with
young people who were no threat to society… These proposals were accepted quite
well at the time, but after Reagan’s election, the emphasis shifted almost
exclusively toward controlling production in foreign countries, with severe
criminal penalties instead of treatment for consumers. Unfair laws evolved that
prescribed the same punishment for one gram of crack cocaine (used mostly by
poor people of color) as for one hundred grams of white cocaine powder (used
mostly by rich white people),” 7/29/1977 (P. 74).
Republicans were famous for supporting the rich. Democrats have
been following them in pursuit of enriching the rich since the beginning of
this century:
“I met with Senator Russell Long, which is always a
complete waste of time… Russell put an embarrassing quantity of special
interest provisions in the energy bill, which I think is abhorrent, and has a
deep personal financial interest in the outcome of it,” 1/19/1978
(P.164&165). “I had a meeting with
about twenty top business leaders to encourage them to do something on
anti-inflation… Almost everybody around the table was making more than $500,000
a year, and one or two almost $2 million a year, but they were not willing to
put a freeze on executive salaries. I was disappointed,” 4/19/1978 (P. 190).
Perhaps, the largest effort must be made in stopping special
interest groups, lobbyists, and campaign contributors from engaging in
politics:
“I worked on hospital cost containment [bill] in the
afternoon, calling the members of Congress, many of whom have been bribed by
the hospital industry,” 11/10/1979 (P. 370).
Miscellaneous:
NSA eavesdropping is not anything new! The government has always
been pursuing it. The relationship between religion and government and the
trend of dictatorial ambitions of the heads of state are other subjects of
interest that are quoted from Carter’s diary below:
“We’re trying to
decide how much control there should be over warrants to tap the phone or
eavesdrop on American citizens overseas and on foreign citizens who are
visiting our own country or living here… This was a brief outline of the
legislation that we would pass in 1978 called the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act (FISA). It worked well and remained in effect until the Bush
administration decided to ignore or circumvent its restraints after the 9/11
attack in 2001,” 4/15/1977 (P. 41). “Chief
executives of the National Council of Churches brought me a list of things they
didn’t like about government. I responded in a polite but firm way that when
you compared social programs, human rights, civil rights, between the
government and churches, that by far the best record was with the government.
I, being a member of both, was in a position to make an objective analysis,” 2/24/78 (P. 173). “ I met with a group of national religious leaders who are
even more concerned than I about the right-wing radical TV religious performers
who equate a belief in Christ with the embracing of right-wing South American
dictators, opposition to ERA, and a move to abolish the Department of
Education,” 8/5/1980 (P. 454). “I met alone with Reagan in the Oval Office, and we had a
friendly and unrestrained discussion. He listened primarily and made a few
remarks, apparently excerpted from his basic campaign speech… The only original
statement he made was that he was very envious of the South Koreans in the way
they handled demonstrators, that when President Park was faced with students
demonstrating on a campus he closed all the universities and drafted the
demonstrators into the army. He described how envious he was of the authority
that the president of Korea had,” 11/20/1980 (Ps. 486
& 487).
