Jimmy Carter tried to wean us off of Fossil Fuels

[edhopper]

he had a decades long plan that would have made America energy sufficient and not relying on foreign oil. Or oil at all.
Regan ended all programs Carter began. That was 40 years ago.
I bring this up now because if we had been wise and a little far sighted, Putin;s Russia would have no hold over Europe today.
Between the Arab Oil Embargo and the environmental damage, Carter saw the only way forward. Too bad the American voters were too dumb to see it too.

[2naSalit]

1. We were busily in the throes of...

Dismantling our public school system at the time so that we wouldn't have the great thinkers of our time working to solve major issues regarding the survival of the species.

Sometimes I am convinced we don't deserve to survive the affects of our stupidity and greed.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Passive solar building remains one of the most free energy sources

and doesn't often involve high levels of technology and maintenance. Triple glazed windows, insulation, venting, and hot water collection were the growth companies of 1980 due to federal tax credits. Kaput with Reagan.

[Ferrets are Cool]

3. And Raygun killed it dead as soon as he took office.

[Magoo48]

17. Ronnie Raygun was as odiferous as Jimmy Carter was exemplary.

[betsuni]

4. Why the both sides thing is massively stupid in so many, many ways.

[mucifer]

5. It's a VERY effective strategy for them

[KPN]

11. Frustratingly so. Effective strategies are easily conceived when the target audience is

those who are ignorant and insecure.

[PXR-5]

6. That was the first election I was old enough to vote

If I remember correctly, Carter did not have a balanced budget one year.

My Dad screamed at me, is that what you want for the next four years!!!!!

Of course I voted for Carter, then of course I heard budgets don't matter!

[AllaN01Bear]

18. i voted for him too in my first election.

its ok for them to have an unballanced budged. but not us .

[brer cat]

7. He was massively unappreciated (not by us on DU).

Carter was a great president.

[rubbersole]

8. The most decent president in memory...

Smeared by repub operatives committing treason with Iran. Seems to be a pattern...

[Mister Ed]

9. All lost because Americans remained hostage in Iran.

Had they not, then Carter would have likely been reelected.

Of course, there's much evidence that the Reagan campaign worked to make sure the hostages were held until after the election. Simple treason.

[jalan48]

10. And he lasted one term only. The fossil fuel industry is very powerful.

[KPN]

12. And they picked a puppet in 1980, much like they did in 2016.

[jalan48]

14. Yep. Ronnie, a B Grade actor that was good at reading cue cards did their bidding.

[Auggie]

13. Such a lost opportunity

Carter's actions would have created technology advancements that paralleled JFK's moon mission.

[NNadir]

15. Jimmy Carter invested in research for Fischer-Tropsch coal to oil.

This was not an effort to get us off fossil fuels.

All of here love President Carter, but to praise his energy policies is a mistake.

We are very fortunate they were abandoned. At least one of them, the decision to forego nuclear fuel reprocessing was a terrible mistake overall, although it is probably the case that the technology at that time would have been Purex. The IFR electrochemical reprocessing is clearly superior but it was merely a crude idea at the time.

It is not wise to be dishonest about history. Jimmy Carter was a fine President, and an even better human being, but his energy ideas were not workable. It is good that he had energy ideas, but although he could not have known, they would have been tragic had they played out.

[Raster]

22. Carter's efforts, first and foremost was to free the U.S. from foreign energy servitude.

The pathway Carter envisioned would have indeed involved petroleum, just not hostage to foreign petroleum.

We don't know that all of Carter's energy ideas were not workable, because they were never given a chance. Carter was kicked to the curb because he dare challenge the dominance of the #PetroleumCartel.

But, your statement of "It is good that he had energy ideas..." is the point. #BigPetroleum OWNED Raygun*, and their toxic triad with Saudi Arabai, #Big Petroleum and the Bush* family will be the stuff of future investigations.

[NNadir]

25. Irrespective of these claims, Fischer-Tropsch chemistry...

...would have made the climate disaster far worse.

I am not a nationalist, and thus I would not put national interests above environmental issues.

Look, I love Jimmy Carter, but his energy policy also included coddling the Shah of Iran while speaking loudly about human rights.

I don't credit much of what you argue.

This, his warm relationship with the Shah, more than anything led to his downfall. THE Carter doctrine was to protect American access to petroleum in one form or another. In retrospect it was a bad idea.

To criticize Carter is not to praise Reagan. Reagan was a racist thug who continued Nixon's policy of leading the Republican Party into becoming a White Supremacist organization.

This said, overall, Carter's energy policies do not stand up well to history.

[Buckeyeblue]

16. Carter was ahead of his time

The Iran hostage situation took a big toll. I remember it's the only thing we heard on the news for months. I think if the rescue attempt had succeeded he would have beat St. Ronnie.

The country would be different.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

19. Was Jimmy Carter president of Europe too?

I bring this up now because if we had been wise and a little far sighted, Putin;s Russia would have no hold over Europe today.

Perhaps Europe's situation is different from ours.

[ramapo]

20. 40 years squandered

Beyond frustrating. This is what growing old gets you… watching the country and world go to shit.

We still do not get it

[Demsrule86]

21. Unfortunately, one has to appeal to the American people with ideas or policy. He was right but the

the country wasn't doing well then in economic terms and we had the Iran situation. What if Congress had cooperated and we had taken some important steps towards energy independence? What if we had continued to build on these first steps in later administrations? My point is that we can't get it all in one bit often and must have a long-term plan...same is true with health care. Had Clinton, attempted health care a bit more gradually, who knows where we would be today? Look what the ACA has accomplished.

[RoeVWade]

23. More of the public can probably now be won over with the need to diversify energy sources...

because of Russia. That is not the perfect answer but at least you can move more people to more green energy for a reason they might accept.

[panfluteman]

24. America is Like a Blackout Drunk Staggering from Side to Side But Never Managing to Go Forward

We can almost take it as being as inevitable as the law of gravity nowadays that an incoming Republican president will cancel all programs instituted by a previous Democratic president - and vicey versy. If we're ever going to get somewhere as a nation, we're going to have to make a sustained, continuous effort to persevere in the right - not right wing, of course, but in what is right for the country, and right for the planet.

[hunter]

26. Your post implies there's a "middle road." There's not.

The Republican Party needs to end. It is utterly and irredeemably corrupt.

[keep_left]

27. Carter was vilified for this speech: "The Crisis of Confidence".

Historians are now praising the speech for its correct diagnosis of the problems facing us. But Americans didn't want to listen, calling it the "malaise" speech, though that word was never used.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216716458#post33

[aggiesal]

28. Reagan campaigned against solar ...

it's not that voters were too dumb, it's that the voters ignore politics and those that don't, just ignored the campaign against solar.