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In reply to the discussion: This is what a REAL Democrat sounds like. [View all]MADem
(135,425 posts)Was he perfect? Hell no. Did he mean well and did he have a moral core? Absolutely. He was a bit Jesus-y, but he pretty much stuck to the "least of the brethren, merciful, feed the hungry/care for the sick" bits when he got all faith-based, and that kind of stuck it to the selfish moralists. His "malaise" speech touched upon consumerism and not giving a shit about the needy among us, and I thought that was a fair point.
He supported the ERA, which I thought was emblematic of his essence--after all, the poorest people, the ones who worked the hardest and made the least, were women, not men. He was the first guy to put a fair share of people of color and females on his staff who were VISIBLE--not hidden in the back rooms. He was always in favor of making taxes more progressive, not that he had the clout to do it, but he made that plain--and progressive taxes favor the poor as we all know. He was also strong on federal subsidies to public education, which always-always-always benefit the poorest neighborhoods with the least resources.
Check this out--it's his stances AS A CANDIDATE, before he was elected, from an independent book about him (because no one knew who the hell he was). What's fascinating about him is that he was all in favor of national health insurance and decriminalization of marijuana--back in the SEVENTIES. And that's just for starters....
http://www.ontheissues.org/Archive/Jimmy_Who_Jimmy_Carter.htm
Again, not a saint, but a solid guy with a people-oriented POV.