Carter's Crisis

Interesting Op-Ed piece in today's NYT, on the 30th Anniversary of Jimmy Carter's "Malaise Speech." I remember watching this speech all those years ago, and as the op-ed points out, my reaction was very favorable. It was, in fact, a formative event in my life: " the very act of energy conservation like this is more than just common sense—I tell you it is an act of patriotism." I took that to heart, and ever since, I have actively looked for ways to cut my consumption, to seek contentment rather than satiation. My total home use of energy- my total energy use outside of what I use here at the coffee shop- amounts to a monthly electricity bill of $16 to $20, depending on the season.

Yet 30 years later, we as a society have not forgotten Carter's speech; we've twisted, ignored and ridiculed the very points he was trying to make. Here's a few more excerpts:

In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We've learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.

(...)

As you know, there is a growing disrespect for government and for churches and for schools, the news media, and other institutions. This is not a message of happiness or reassurance, but it is the truth and it is a warning.

(...)

Looking for a way out of this crisis, our people have turned to the Federal Government and found it isolated from the mainstream of our Nation's life. Washington, D.C., has become an island. The gap between our citizens and our Government has never been so wide. The people are looking for honest answers, not easy answers; clear leadership, not false claims and evasiveness and politics as usual.

(...)

We are at a turning point in our history. There are two paths to choose. One is a path I've warned about tonight, the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. That path would be one of constant conflict between narrow interests ending in chaos and immobility. It is a certain route to failure.

All the traditions of our past, all the lessons of our heritage, all the promises of our future point to another path, the path of common purpose and the restoration of American values. That path leads to true freedom for our Nation and ourselves. We can take the first steps down that path as we begin to solve our energy problem.

Carter was and is a very religious man, but I have little problem with others' faiths, as long as they don't ask me to live by the dictates of those faiths. So accepting those references as valid from his and many others' point of view, I don't see much here to argue with. Sadly, it turns out, Americans were not "looking for honest answers," but easy answers. A bit more than a year later, we elected Reagan president, because he told us mindless consumption was good, it was "Morning in America" (though "mourning" might be more appropriate in hindsight), and that deregualting everything would guarantee everyone their own little trickle.

And 30 years later, Carter's speech is mocked as the "Malaise Speech," even though he never used that word. The full text is here; it's startling and sad to reread it all these wasted years later.