Columnists

Jimmy Carter's big speech

Forty-one years ago, Jimmy Carter, then governor of Georgia, delivered an extemporaneous address that established his credentials as a politician who was willing to tell the truth, even to powerful and moneyed interests--a speech that, in the wake of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, might never again be heard in American politics.

In light of Carter's recent announcement that he has cancer, it's worth reflecting on what made him a politician utterly different from both the presidents who succeeded him, and many who preceded him.

One of the venerable traditions at the University of Georgia Law School is Law Day, an occasion to honor student achievements as well as to invite distinguished guests, ranging from Supreme Court justices and attorneys general to cabinet members and politicians of national stature. On this Saturday in May 1974, the featured speaker was Edward M. Kennedy, the senior senator from Massachusetts.

Two hours after Kennedy delivered his keynote speech, Carter, one of the undercard speakers, unleashed a blistering extemporaneous critique about the legal and legislative process.

Carter, building on his understanding of the Christian faith, expressed his solidarity with those on the margins, took on corporate interests and upstaged Kennedy, who was then considered the front-runner for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination.

Carter lamented that "the powerful and the influential in our society shape the laws and have a great influence on the legislature or the Congress." The status quo serves their interest. Carter lit into lobbyists and decried the incestuous relationship between corporations and the agencies regulating them.

Carter's address captured the attention of Hunter Thompson of Rolling Stone magazine. During the course of his speech, Carter noticed that Thompson had briefly left the room; he surmised that the self-proclaimed "gonzo journalist" had simply exited to refresh whatever adult beverage he was drinking that day. Thompson, however, scurried to the parking lot to retrieve a tape recorder so he could record what he believed was an extraordinary moment: a politician who dared speak the truth.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the self-described democratic socialist from Vermont, is sounding some of the same themes on the campaign trail, but pundits generally minimize his prospects; Carter, on the other hand, made it to the White House. Furthermore, the attention--and the crowds--that Sanders is attracting suggest how exceptional it has become in American political rhetoric to hear a presidential aspirant take on powerful interests.

For most politicians, the message is clear. The Supreme Court's calamitous equation of money with speech in the Citizens United decision opened corporate spigots that have flooded the political arena. No politician harboring national ambitions can afford to alienate those interests.

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Randall Balmer is chair of the Religion Department at Dartmouth College.

Editorial on 08/24/2015

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