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Op-Ed: A
rerun of 'Welcome Back, Carter'
[The Center Square] William Haupt III
“Nature never makes any blunders, when she makes a fool
she means it.”
– Archibald Alexander
Television in the 1970s was an era of
programming that dealt with integration, ethnicity, idealism and
liberalism. "Welcome Back, Kotter" was a sitcom about a former student
who returns to his old high school hoping to apply his college syllabus
to a class of misfits called the Sweathogs. Gabe Kotter is a
well-intended teacher who finds he can’t apply what he learned in
college in the classroom. |
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 Its theme song, “Welcome Back, Kotter,” sets the tone of the
series. When Kotter returns to Brooklyn High he must ditch his textbook
mythology and revert to his roots to instruct the unruly Sweathogs.
Gabe Kotter became aware, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,”
before the Sweathogs got the best of him. “Welcome Back, Kotter” was a very
popular show with the number one song at the time we welcomed another visionary
theorist, Jimmy Carter, into the White House in the 1970s.
Jimmy Carter ran on a platform of ethical government and world peace. Like
Kotter, Jimmy Carter had a “vision” that he could renew voters’ trust in
government and win over our enemies by being nice. He was a religious and moral
pragmatist who felt theories alone could fix U.S. politics and foreign policy.
“I wish I had known when I was in the White House what I know now.”
– Jimmy Carter
Carter was a Walter Mitty liberal who never understood national governance. His
first mistake was to surround himself with “Georgia elites” whose weaknesses
were the same as his own. He never learned to separate decisions a president
must make from those that should be made by advisers.
America faced real problems when Carter took office, including oil shortages and
surging tensions with the Middle East and the USSR. Yet he failed miserably with
his passive attempts to improve foreign policy. He wasted valuable time
developing “theories” on how policy “should” be, not like it was.
“Music and art and love of nature transcend political and social boundaries.”
– Jimmy Carter
Carter’s domestic docket was a disaster. Industry needed energy to grow yet he
tied the hands of energy producers with EPA restrictions. To limit dependence on
oil from rogue nations, he raised taxes on imports to force conservation. This
harmed industry and led to increased unemployment.
Oil prices jumped 25% due to Carter’s tax increases that raised the price of gas
10 cents a gallon overnight. Within months, prices on everything escalated to
new highs. Carter petitioned the Fed to tighten the money supply on business
lending. The Fed increased the lending rate by 3% to banks and cut back on
consumer lending. As a result, the dollar's value plummeted on foreign
exchanges.
By 1981, Carter’s botched economic polices brought about the worst economic
downturn since the Great Depression. Three-fourths of all job losses were in the
middle class goods-producing sector, residential construction and auto
manufacturing. Unemployment and inflation soon reached 11%.
“We must adjust to these changing times and still hold to unchanging
principles.”
– Jimmy Carter
Carter’s foreign policy was less efficient than his domestic failures. It was an
undefined mixture of diplomacy and appeasing anti-American regimes guided by his
moral and religious beliefs. He was dealing mostly with de facto dictators who
saw this as a weakness and lost all fears for America.
He transferred the Panama Canal to General Torrijos, giving away all U.S.
influence in the region.
Carter’s inept foreign policy gave radical Islamic extremists a world stage.
Carter called Iran the “island of stability.” Yet shortly after he took office,
anti-America Islamist students, under Ayatollah Khomeini, occupied the U.S.
embassy for 444 days with 52 American hostages under his watch.
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Carter’s inept diplomacy ignited the rise of radical Islam. Six Americans died
in two botched rescue attempts and Carter gave up. The hostages were finally
released when Ronald Reagan took office.
Unlike Gabe Kotter, Jimmy Carter never learned, “The road to hell is paved with
good intentions.”
Joe Biden claims to be the next FDR. But many Americans say he’s the second
coming of Jimmy Carter. Carter policies brought us gas lines, 11% inflation and
Middle Eastern unrest. Biden is well on his way to do a repeat performance of
Jimmy Carter, but he is even more dangerous!
“I was elected to repair our broken economy and foreign policy, and by God, I’ll
do it!”
– Joe Biden
Figures from The Consumer Price Index show that, since Biden took office,
inflation has accelerated at its fastest pace in 12 years. When Biden shut down
the Keystone pipe line, and banned new drilling permits on federal lands, energy
prices reached their highest point since 2014 and unemployment rose to 6%.
Consumer goods, energy and housing costs all rose 4.2% this year. According to
Bloomberg, the GDP gained only a mere 0.8%. Dow Jones, the S&P and NASDAQ fell
when Biden revealed plans to double the capital gains tax. Sen. Charles Grassley
blamed the spike in prices and inflation on Biden’s trillions in stimulus
spending; calling it “reminiscent of what Jimmy Carter did in the 1970s.”
Biden, like Carter entered office promising to heal our broken political system.
But from day one he has been a progressive marionette. Instead of healing
America, he has become a master at self-inflicted crises. His misdirection will
bring us 1970s stagflation and foreign policies that empower only our enemies.
“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful.”
– George Orwell
George Orwell wrote, “Political chaos begins when logic fails.” Biden claims the
dismal April jobs numbers show how badly his two other proposals ($5 trillion
for infrastructure and families) are needed? How can that help dig us out of
this economic hole when these will be paid for with huge tax hikes on
investments and business? And who ultimately pays these taxes? The middle class.
Biden, like Jimmy Carter, has proven this job is above his pay grade. Carter
didn’t have the tools to govern on the national stage. And any tools Joe Biden
possessed are long gone. Biden too has not realized “The road to hell is paved
with good intentions.” He continues to repeat his mistakes.
“Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.”
– Charlie Chaplin
A lot of people have been comparing Joe Biden to Jimmy Carter and rightfully so.
But to be fair to Jimmy Carter, Joe Biden is making Jimmy Carter look a lot
better. Carter was incapable of handling every crisis he had to face while he
was president. On the other hand, Biden has proven he is a master at creating
crisis after crisis and actually believes that he is doing something great.
“It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions
than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for
being wrong.”
– Thomas Sowell
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