Source link : https://theamericannews.net/america/usa/americas-moral-compass-died-sunday/
The expectation of decency in American politics died on Sunday.
The final tether to decency and decorum was severed with the passing of former President Jimmy Carter, who passed away at his relatively modest home in Plains, Georgia. America’s moral compass, the model of what an American president should be, how one should behave, the level of genuine decency that could be achieved died with him.
To be certain, decency within our politics has been on life support for years, pushed to the brink of death by the cancer that is the maga brand but suffering a steady decline even in the years prior to Donald Trump’s acceptance by the American public.
Jimmy Carter, though, was always the bright light that pulled us back from the edge.
A picture of the former president, stricken with cancer himself and well into his 80s, working diligently at a construction site on a new home for an impoverished American family. A story of Carter and his recently-deceased wife, Rosalynn, teaching Sunday school at the same church they’ve attended for years.
Carter was proof positive for decades upon decades that, despite what the skeptics and cynics assert, good people can do good things in American politics. Good people can have the best of intentions and inspire others to have them as well, and American voters will elect such a person.
And for the same number of decades, Carter was the counter to anyone who asserted that an American politician must be nasty, cruel, indecent, immoral or profane to get elected. He was the walking, talking, hammering, praying reminder that no, you don’t have to be a jackass to get ahead.
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It’s scary to think what depths we will reach now without that reminder.
Even before Trump began mocking the disabled and holding rallies that were unfit for children, political decency had been on a steady decline since the day Carter left office. Ronald Reagan’s blatant, racist castigation of poor minorities played its role, as did Bill Clinton’s utter disregard for personal behavior. George W. Bush’s naivete, or blatant indifference to the (borderline) criminal acts occurring around him, didn’t help much.
But the reactions to President Barack Obama, and the tactics employed by the right and rightwing media to tear him down, sent us hurtling down this slope at a breakneck pace. Because Obama’s mere presence in the White House allowed for the use of racism, discrimination and bigotry while simultaneously providing cover for any who would employ such disgusting attacks.
After all, how can we be racist if we just elected and re-elected a Black man – especially one who is probably a Muslim socialist who really comes from Kenya and wasn’t born in America – as president of the country?
Why, after electing such a person twice, even an openly racist birther with the credentials and vocabulary of a common con man could be next.
The last eight years have been a lesson in how to dumb down political discourse while also eliminating any expectations of decency or decorum. With the maga brand leading the way, we have determined, apparently, that political aptitude no longer involves understanding the complexities of governance or even being in tune with the cares and issues of the American voter, but instead rests with low-brow comebacks, childish name calling and saying the most outrageous things imaginable, especially if those things attack a marginalized group of Americans.
Maga has also rebranded Christianity. Today, Jesus and his ideas about rich people not being able to get into heaven and loving and respecting everyone, including those you disagree with, are just outdated liberal snowflake ideals. Maga Christianity means stomping out dissent, prosperity gospel, putting those librarians in jail and monitoring bathroom usage.
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It’s scary to think where we might slip now without Jimmy Carter.
Because through it all, as the far right zealots pushed their insanity and used rightwing media to make their Christian nationalism seem sane and our steady march away from the 1st amendment seem natural, Jimmy Carter always reminded us of the reality.
In our darkest times, when we seemed destined to lose the thread completely, there he’d be – this tiny man, ballcap pulled down, bandana around his neck, cancer in remission again, toting lumber at another Habitat for Humanity site. And we’d be jolted back to our senses. We’d know it didn’t have to be like this. We’d know how it should be. Who they should be. How they should act.
That’s who and what we lost on Sunday.
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Publish date : 2024-12-30 00:13:00
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Author : theamericannews
Publish date : 2024-12-30 15:17:43
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.