Off the Cuff: Imagine There Is Gasoline Enough to Go Around
Lots of folks seem to regard Jimmy Carter (or Cah-tuh, as he pronounced it), the 39th and arguably the all-time worst POTUS ever, as some manner of Protestant saint. Never mind that he presided over a surge in interest rates, inflation, bankruptcies, gas prices, and hostage-taking.
“He was a good, kind, and decent man,” seems to be the general narrative.
“He was a committed Christian,” say many Christians, both committed and faux.
Okay, well, there are obviously folks out there who vote for the nicest candidate, the one most likely to give ten dollars to the beggars one finds prowling at the top of freeway exits. I’m not one of them. I’m much more inclined to vote for the guy who rolls his window down and shouts, “GET A JOB!”
I happen to be a born-again believer in the Lordship of Christ Jesus, but whether a political candidate is a bona fide Christian is not uppermost in my list of qualifications. It’s not irrelevant, mind you; it is, however, secondary to “Believes the Second Amendment is as valid today as it was in 1789” and “Believes the First Amendment was written to protect unpopular and even offensive speech.” The Founding Fathers believed in separating church and state, and so do I. Voting is a political act. I vote primarily on the basis of political, not religious, considerations (albeit the latter holds sway over certain issues).
So, I don’t care whether Jimmy Carter was or was not a committed Christian, but if I was pressed on the matter, I’d say he was not. More important (to moi), he was a Democrat. Period. End of story.
Notwithstanding my apathy concerning Carter’s religiosity, it blew my mind (hyperbole, but you get the picture) that Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, one of Nashville’s power couples, played and sang John Lennon’s most well-known song, “Imagine,” at Carter’s funeral. At least Mr. Brooks had the good sense to not wear his black cowboy hat in church.
The song’s lyrics reflect, promote, champion—all apply—atheism and socialism. The actual lyrics can be found here, but allow me to merely give the reader a taste: “Imagine there’s no heaven…no hell…no countries…no religion…no possessions; Imagine all the people, living for today…sharing all the world….”
Allow me to translate: Imagine we all live under the thumb of a totalitarian communist government that forbids freedom of religion and the accumulation of wealth, promotes hedonism, and where there is no hope that anything better awaits us.”
Apparently, Carter REQUESTED that Lennon’s ode to Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, and Sigmund Freud be played at his funeral. Oh, and by the way, lest the reader think Carter didn’t really know what the song celebrates, it was at Carter’s request that Brooks and Yearwood sang “Imagine” two years ago, at Rosalynn Carter’s funeral. It was obviously one of his favorite songs, another being “La Bayamesa,” the National Anthem of Cuba.
Just kidding.
Can we all agree that it is impossible to reconcile Carter’s love of and requests for “Imagine” with an authentic biblical worldview? Three possibilities present themselves:
Carter was one of those “progressive” Christians who believe that the dudes who wrote the Bible were writing for the audience of their day, and that none of them believed in DEI or BLM.
Carter was a closet Marxist.
Carter attended a Christian church because that’s what everyone does in small-town Georgia.
The evidence suggests all three statements may be true of Saint Jimmy.
Because Saint Jimmy obviously believed the Bible was a “living” document, subject to period review and revision by human beings, I have taken the liberty of altering the lyrics of “Imagine” to more accurately reflect Carter’s legacy:
Imagine no inflation
It’s easy if you try
No gasoline lines
We’re all free to drive, drive, drive
Imagine everybody
Votes Republican
Hoo hah!
Just imagine keeping
almost all of what you earn,
No hostages to bring home
Our inner cities do not burn
Yeah, imagine every living soul
Votes for Donald Trump!
Boy Howdy!
They say I’m a farmer
Peanuts are my game
But if you buy my peanuts
I’ll tax you just the same
(Fade out)
In closing, perhaps the best thing Carter did in his lifetime was start Habitat for Humanity, a great American charity. Carter had a good heart, for sure. Nonetheless, we can all give thanks for the fact that he only served as POTUS for one term. Once was damage enough.
Copyright 2025, John K. Rosemond
John, Carter did not start Habitat. Some people he knew started Habitat in 1976 and, in the 1980’s as a PR move to both rehabilitate his image (he really was the worst president until Obama) and bring Habitat to national recognition (which resulted in $$$$$ in fundraising) he very publicly got involved and worked on some houses they were building. I’ve often wondered if he was ultimately paid for this work.
Jimmah was a rabid antisemite, and cozied up to Yassar Arafat against Israel. In fact, he never met an antisemitic world leader he did not befriend. He was always working against the state of Israel. In his quest to “win” a Nobel Peace Prize Jimmah traveled around the world meeting with the most rabidly anti-American dictators, even when such meetings were not sanctioned by the sitting President and, in some cases, actually went counter to American foreign policy. If anyone else had done some of the things Jimmah did they would have landed in a federal prison.
I live in the South (Charlotte, NC actually) and know several people - many conservatives - who have been holding Carter up as “maybe he wasn’t a great President but he was a great Christian and a fine Southern gentleman.” Nonsense. He was a self serving politician who even acted against the interests of the United States in his quest for personal glory.
Dr. John, I thought the following was an interesting take on Carter's presidency from a right-leaning Investment firm, First Trust:
Monday Morning Outlook
Jimmy Carter, RIP
To view this article, Click Here.
Brian S. Wesbury, Chief Economist
Robert Stein, Deputy Chief Economist
Date: 12/30/2024
Jimmy Carter, the thirty-ninth president of the United States passed away this weekend, at age 100, the first former president to ever reach that milestone.
The Election of 1976, when Carter won, seems like it happened in a different country. The Democrats swept all the states of the Confederacy with the exception of Virginia. The Republican candidate, Gerald Ford, won a large group of states that included Illinois, Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey, California, Oregon, and Washington. (Look it up if you don’t believe it!)
Although many political and economic conservatives still associate the Carter presidency with economic mismanagement, high inflation, and recession, his Administration’s policy choices and experience were not unique to his Administration.
Yes, inflation hit double-digits under Carter, but it did so in the Nixon Administration, as well. Yes, Carter tried to fight inflation by imposing credit controls on the banking system, but the Nixon Administration imposed economy-wide wage and price controls to try to address inflation.
Yes, Carter’s first choice to lead the Federal Reserve was G. William Miller, a lawyer with no particular insight into monetary policy or fighting inflation. But, when the going got rough, he replaced Miller with Paul Volker, who brought inflation back under control and was later re-appointed by President Reagan. Nixon’s Fed chief was Arthur Burns, who supported tight money when he was an academic but then bent over backwards to appease Nixon’s desire for loose money when running the Fed.
In the meantime, Carter was willing to take on many special-interest economic sacred cows and deregulate major parts of the US economy. Believe it or not, before Carter, bureaucrats in Washington, DC at the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) would set the ticket price for every seat on every airline that flew. They controlled which airlines flew which routes and only allowed airlines to use amenities, like food or seat-types, to compete. That’s why back then flying was expensive and unusual for the broad middle-class and below.
Carter appointed Alfred Kahn, who despised regulation, as his inflation czar. While most don’t remember, Kahn was a lightning rod, much like Elon Musk is today. He was outspoken and got in trouble for talking about “recession,” so he started to call it a “banana.” The banana industry got upset, so he then called it a “kumquat.” And all this happened before Twitter or X, or any modern social media existed.
Kahn tried to resign, but Carter wouldn’t let him, and appointed him to head the CAB. He is the only agency head in the history of Washington, DC to take over an agency and then dismantle it. The Civil Aeronautics Board is gone, and airline deregulation happened because of Kahn and President Carter.
The Carter Administration also led on deregulating trucking. We understand this is going to sound completely ridiculous, maybe even made-up, but before Carter a truck that left one state with a load and delivered it elsewhere was required to go back empty to the original state before it could make another round trip. (Seriously, we are not making this up!)
In addition, the Carter Administration led the fight to deregulate government rate-setting for trains and remove restrictions on long distance phone service. Older readers will remember their parents telling them to hurry up when talking to friends or relatives long-distance because it cost so much more!
The Carter-era, in general, happened before tribal politics made it impossible for the left to trust free markets. In addition to deregulating so many sectors, Carter supported a cut in the capital gains tax rate, in effect reducing the top tax rate on long-term gains to 28% from a prior 35%. Yes, Reagan then cut it to 20% for several years, but Carter cut it first.
Today the greatest economic challenges are different than in the late 1970s, but in remembrance of President Carter, we suggest politicians in DC think back to that era. Learning from history is important. Deregulating industries helped the American people with lower prices and more choices. Today, the US economy is like Gulliver tied up by a thousand strands of thread by the Lilliputians. Carter was the one who started to cut those threads.
Let’s do it again.
This report was prepared by First Trust Advisors L. P., and reflects the current opinion of the authors. It is based upon sources and data believed to be accurate and reliable. Opinions and forward looking statements expressed are subject to change without notice. This information does not constitute a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any security.