I believe so. I remember thinking it was cool Carter was a Sunday school teacher, and like you, I loved his accent. I always thought the Carters’ work with Habitat for Humanity was admirable. It was Ronald Reagan, though, who I really liked.
Tough to choose just one! The most pertinent to me was the article about growing up. Having four adult children made this seem relevant. I can’t deny though that it applies to me as well, I’m almost 60 and I’m still wanna be a kid.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Mike. I share your sense of still being a youngster; I swear I'm all of 13 mentally and otherwise most of the time. Having adult children piqued my interest on the generational article as well. I was glad the writer went (a little) deeper than just the financial piece, as too often economics mask everything else.
In 1976 I had not yet formed any political opinions but I knew I was a conservative. I listened to Jimmy Carter and I liked him - I still do. He was a Christian, a farmer, and a military man. I then voted for my first and last, Democrat.
By 1980 I was happy to see Ronald Reagan enter the White House.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Joe. I'd love to hear more from your perspective on those years between 1977-1980, as you would have had a little more life under your belt than I did to remember specifics firsthand. What do you recall of President Carter during those times? Were there policies and decisions of his that you liked? And why were you personally happy to see a change come in 1980?
I voted for Carter but was losing confidence in him. I can't remember much of his foreign policy but I think it was lacking. The 1979 gasoline rationing was something we had never experienced. Cars were lining up at service stations well before opening creating traffic jams that had to be regulated. Anger ensued when Stations wanted to close for the day, sometimes requiring police intervention.
Then there was the Iranian Hostage situation which lasted for over a year. Carter's attempts to release the hostages were a failure. The American people were angry. We were relieved when Ronald Reagan took office and the hostages were released.
I liken this to the Trump effect, where a strong leader will cause positive changes even before taking office.
I enjoyed all your articles, only wished they were a bit longer! It seems to me a connection between then is ideas — what we have to learn to consider in order to really consider anything to shows up in the news; what will root us to the part so that we can grow with purpose into the future—what ideas were previous generations considering, and to what effect?; and the department of education under Carter! Education as exposure to and thoughtful consideration of ideas has been stripped to measurable knowledge and skills, to the detriment of us all.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Rebekah. It would appear you're one of my long-form readers!
You make a very astute point (one that I only mentioned in the first article but didn't think to draw it out in the other two) that there's definitely a theme of the importance of ideas running through the post. Of course, we could assume such a theme in any series of posts (by their very nature, posts carry ideas), but the question is always one of their content and said content's consideration, the latter of which (as you allude) we don't do very well anymore.
Wish I could choose/vote for them all, as they all resonate with my own views and experiences. Unless you have supernatural abilities to digest enormous amounts of information banging on your head all at once, it's a losing battle. I have a finite number of news sources (1440, Free Press, Ground News) and that is it. Re: not growing up, Steve and I are also still 35 in our heads, but our goals and where we're at life-stage wise are those shared by 75 yr olds. Maybe it's the way we grew up: single-parent households, learning quickly the difference between a Need and a Want. However, our kids (classic Millennials) are physically mid-late 30s, but their lifestyles are sold out to the pursuit of pleasure (movies, events, trips, more stuff), with no vision towards having options later in life, or the stark reality that the gravy train will slow to a trickle someday. I also liked your thoughts on Carter, and share similar views: a good man, tragic missteps in his presidency as well as after (he was speaking out of school (badly!) trying to be an informal negotiator with known ME terrorist groups). I well remember interest rates in the 20s and gas rationing. I applaud his work with Habitat, his faith, and his longstanding fidelity to his wife. Thanks as always for your thoughtful curation of good things to read :)
Thanks for reading and commenting, Catherine. Always good hearing from you and glad there was some resonance (quite a bit it would seem) here.
Love 1440 and Free Press; not familiar with Ground News but will check it out. Sorry for the tensions you must wrestle through with your kids but hope there's some resolution there in the days and years to come. Regarding Carter, I had read of his attempts at negotiation post-presidency and the verdict was similar to yours (i.e. not good).
I also enjoyed your thoughts on Carter!
Thanks for reading and commenting, Michael. Guessing as we're roughly the same age, you may have a few memories as well of the former president?
I believe so. I remember thinking it was cool Carter was a Sunday school teacher, and like you, I loved his accent. I always thought the Carters’ work with Habitat for Humanity was admirable. It was Ronald Reagan, though, who I really liked.
Tough to choose just one! The most pertinent to me was the article about growing up. Having four adult children made this seem relevant. I can’t deny though that it applies to me as well, I’m almost 60 and I’m still wanna be a kid.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Mike. I share your sense of still being a youngster; I swear I'm all of 13 mentally and otherwise most of the time. Having adult children piqued my interest on the generational article as well. I was glad the writer went (a little) deeper than just the financial piece, as too often economics mask everything else.
In 1976 I had not yet formed any political opinions but I knew I was a conservative. I listened to Jimmy Carter and I liked him - I still do. He was a Christian, a farmer, and a military man. I then voted for my first and last, Democrat.
By 1980 I was happy to see Ronald Reagan enter the White House.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Joe. I'd love to hear more from your perspective on those years between 1977-1980, as you would have had a little more life under your belt than I did to remember specifics firsthand. What do you recall of President Carter during those times? Were there policies and decisions of his that you liked? And why were you personally happy to see a change come in 1980?
I voted for Carter but was losing confidence in him. I can't remember much of his foreign policy but I think it was lacking. The 1979 gasoline rationing was something we had never experienced. Cars were lining up at service stations well before opening creating traffic jams that had to be regulated. Anger ensued when Stations wanted to close for the day, sometimes requiring police intervention.
Then there was the Iranian Hostage situation which lasted for over a year. Carter's attempts to release the hostages were a failure. The American people were angry. We were relieved when Ronald Reagan took office and the hostages were released.
I liken this to the Trump effect, where a strong leader will cause positive changes even before taking office.
I enjoyed all your articles, only wished they were a bit longer! It seems to me a connection between then is ideas — what we have to learn to consider in order to really consider anything to shows up in the news; what will root us to the part so that we can grow with purpose into the future—what ideas were previous generations considering, and to what effect?; and the department of education under Carter! Education as exposure to and thoughtful consideration of ideas has been stripped to measurable knowledge and skills, to the detriment of us all.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Rebekah. It would appear you're one of my long-form readers!
You make a very astute point (one that I only mentioned in the first article but didn't think to draw it out in the other two) that there's definitely a theme of the importance of ideas running through the post. Of course, we could assume such a theme in any series of posts (by their very nature, posts carry ideas), but the question is always one of their content and said content's consideration, the latter of which (as you allude) we don't do very well anymore.
Wish I could choose/vote for them all, as they all resonate with my own views and experiences. Unless you have supernatural abilities to digest enormous amounts of information banging on your head all at once, it's a losing battle. I have a finite number of news sources (1440, Free Press, Ground News) and that is it. Re: not growing up, Steve and I are also still 35 in our heads, but our goals and where we're at life-stage wise are those shared by 75 yr olds. Maybe it's the way we grew up: single-parent households, learning quickly the difference between a Need and a Want. However, our kids (classic Millennials) are physically mid-late 30s, but their lifestyles are sold out to the pursuit of pleasure (movies, events, trips, more stuff), with no vision towards having options later in life, or the stark reality that the gravy train will slow to a trickle someday. I also liked your thoughts on Carter, and share similar views: a good man, tragic missteps in his presidency as well as after (he was speaking out of school (badly!) trying to be an informal negotiator with known ME terrorist groups). I well remember interest rates in the 20s and gas rationing. I applaud his work with Habitat, his faith, and his longstanding fidelity to his wife. Thanks as always for your thoughtful curation of good things to read :)
Thanks for reading and commenting, Catherine. Always good hearing from you and glad there was some resonance (quite a bit it would seem) here.
Love 1440 and Free Press; not familiar with Ground News but will check it out. Sorry for the tensions you must wrestle through with your kids but hope there's some resolution there in the days and years to come. Regarding Carter, I had read of his attempts at negotiation post-presidency and the verdict was similar to yours (i.e. not good).