Jimmy Carter Never Learned

By Christopher G. Adamo

In the wake of former President Jimmy Carter's mindless pontificating on the opening night of the Democratic Convention, it is easy to see why Communism reached its “high water mark” on his watch, and how his policies helped to spawn the rise of modern militant Islam. Carter never understood the benefits of military strength, and in fact believed (and still believes) weakness and appeasement to be worthwhile military and diplomatic policy.

Of course his trust in the power of groveling was never supported by reality, and his “diplomatic” efforts, whether to form closer ties with Mexico or secure the release of the American embassy staff from the murderous regime of the Ayatollah Khomeni, always resulted in embarrassing defeat, suffered not only by himself, but the rest of America as well. Yet that grim truth never succeeded in discouraging his pursuit of “peace through platitudes,” a path down which he continues to tread long after the close of his single, dismal term as President.

Among the other banalities of his convention speech, Carter bemoaned that the “Middle East peace process has come to a screeching halt,” as if all of the endless summit meetings, ceremonious treaty signings, and various “negotiations,” ever diminished the hideous occurrences of terrorist bombings, assassinations, and Islamic calls for jihad over the last six decades. In retrospect, Carter's much-ballyhooed “Camp David Peace Accord” yielded as much as anything ever agreed upon by Neville Chamberlain and Hitler.

Nor is Carter willing to be honest about the recent upsurge of Palestinian suicide bombings and other acts of terror in Israel. Well before George W. Bush's inauguration, Yassir Arafat demonstrated his true regard for all of the ostensible gains in mutual understanding and respect between the Palestinians and Israelis accomplished during Bill Clinton's “Wye River Summit.” Upon returning to his headquarters in Ramallah, Arafat reiterated his calls for the destruction of Israel, initiating a new wave of bombings.

As an even greater outrage, Carter now has the audacity to attempt to blame George W. Bush for North Korea's development of nuclear weapons. Apparently, Carter's memory is as deficient as are his cognitive thinking abilities. For those who need to be reminded, it was none other than Jimmy Carter who, at the bidding of then President Bill Clinton, signed a treaty with the North Koreans in the early 1990's, by which they agreed not to develop such weapons on the condition that the United States give them the very materials and technology to do so.

That Carter would make such a transparent and pathetic attempt to shift culpability for that diplomatic fiasco from himself to George Bush indicates a willingness to distort the facts at any cost. Clearly Carter is motivated by a desperate desire to escape from the responsibility of his own past.

According to Carter, John Kerry espouses “basic American principles and values” that would somehow bolster our nation's position in the eyes of the world. In light of Kerry's track record, one is given to wonder just what those “principles and values” are. Has it ever been an American “value” to abandon the founding and heritage of this country in deference to the leftist ideologies of the United Nations? Or do Kerry (and Carter) believe that this country has anything worthwhile to gain by seeking the good graces of the Germans and French?

In his close, Carter asserted his belief in “truth” as the foundation of America's “global leadership.” This was a rather odd comment, coming as it did on the opening night of the convention for the party of Michael Moore, Al Sharpton, and Bill Clinton.

More importantly however, is the evidence in this statement of Carter's complete lack of understanding of how the world works. All the “truth” he could muster during his four years as President did absolutely nothing to strengthen our country's standing in the world. It wasn't until Ronald Reagan assumed the mantle of leadership in 1981, and began showing the world that America would defend its interests, not by pleading its “good intentions,” but by taking appropriate action when necessary, that hostile foreign leaders developed a healthy respect for this country.

Grim as it may seem to Carter, Kerry, and the rest of those hopeful peaceniks on the “left,” this is the only approach that has ever worked, and the only one that ever will. America cannot afford to gamble its security and its future on a strategy of weakness.

Growing up during the turbulent decades of the ‘60's and ‘70's, Christopher  Adamo saw, to his dismay, the nation's moral foundations being destroyed  before his very eyes. But even then he was a staunch Conservative at heart,  and rejected outright the tenets of America's counterculture revolution.

 After a hitch in the Air Force, where he specialized in airborne  electro- optical systems, he pursued a career in the field of aerospace,  working for major defense contractors in California, Florida, and Colorado. But his career plans abruptly changed during the industry-wide downsizing that followed the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Presently he is working in the field of industrial instrumentation in the state of Wyoming. Concurrently, he has become involved in that state's political process, attending state GOP conventions as a delegate, and serving as a member of the Wyoming Republican Central Committee. He has also aided in the candidacies of local legislators and state senators, as well as a U.S. Senator and Congresswoman.

From 1993 to 1996, he edited and wrote for “The Wyoming Christian”, the state newsletter for Christian Coalition of Wyoming. During that period, he developed an acute awareness of the harm being done to Conservatism by liberal activists within the Republican Party as well as the Democrats. This remains a favorite theme of his articles, which now appear as a regular feature on GOPUSA.