Character counts

As I read the largely generous assessments of the deceased former president, I feel old. For so many of these authors, Jimmy Carter was the first president they remember or worked for. Carter was the fifth president whose term -- achievements and questionable decisions -- I remember being sharply conscious of in real time. His presidency came along at the end of a decade in which I'd truly settled into my adult skin. I neither loved him nor hated him; I voted for him twice without passion. It took what Republicans stuck us with in the next decade for me to engage passionately with national politics after the strange interlude created by defeat in Vietnam, Watergate, and fall of Nixon.

Over the years, I've written here quite a bit about Carter and his times. I came to appreciate him, probably far more than I ever could have liked his presidency if I'd been paying more attention.

Chris Geidner, aka LawDork, has drawn lessons from Carter's life that seem worth reproducing.

Jimmy Carter's life gives us a framework for living humanely in this moment

... When I look at Jimmy Carter’s life and accomplishments, I believe that he has provided us with several important guidelines for living humanely this moment:

    •    We must be steadfast in our principles — and be willing to speak out to advance those principles. 

    •    We need not believe that our institutions will protect us to hold out an expectation that they should.

    •    We should do what we can to hold those institutions accountable, improve them where we can, and discard them if we determine that they are not salvageable. 

    •    We must do what we can to protect one another when those institutions fail us, as they inevitably will.

    •    Those with more — materially and otherwise — must stand up for and support those with less. 

    •    We must remain humble and be willing to learn.

These are not easy guidelines to adhere to, and I’m sure that Carter himself failed in doing so at times even as I think he exemplifies them. But, the goal remains.

As we face the inauguration of a man who has shown himself utterly dishonest, selfish, and cruel, we are about to learn again, painfully, that character counts in governance.