Jimmy Carter – Historical Lense

Posted on February 16, 2022February 17, 2022 by bugsy122019

Their Mad as Hell

The actual rant comes from the movie Network (1976) in which Howard Beale, played by Peter Finch, yells out, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take this any more.” These days many of us immediately equate Beale’s comment with the truckers’ convoy in Canada. After two years of working on the front lines, delivering everything we needed while so many of us worked from home, it’s time for them to be taken seriously and given the respect they deserve. However, theirs is not the first convoy that has demands that they be heard.

Raise you hand if you remember Tractorgate from 1979. The 1970s were a period of serious inflation and stagflation which hit the farmers extremely hard. In fact, farmers in the early 1900s made much more per acre when adjusted for inflation than they did in the 1970s. The farmers were also extremely concerned about the foreclosures coming from the Farmers Home Administration. In 1977 a group of farmers in Campo, Colorado, formed the American Agriculture Movement (AAM). President Jimmy Carter, a farmer himself, supported them, saying “I don’t know of any other group that has suffered more from inflation than farmers.” In December, 1977 roughly 5,000 farmers rallied in Lincoln, Nebraska–many of them driving their tractors to the rally. Though they had widespread support from a number of other states, they didn’t get the attention from the Department of Agriculture they had hoped for. They needed something more dramatic.

In January 1979, farmers from as far away as Colorado got on their tractors and headed east. The Movement’s slogan was “Parity not Charity.” On February 5, 1977, roughly 900 tractors, along with a number of people who came by bus or plane, arrived in Washington, D.C. They blocked roads and drove right past the Capital building, and onto the National Mall near the Washington Monument, where police convinced them to stay. There were only a few rogue tractor drivers. Some of the farmers became lobbyists, speaking with Congressmen, Senators and member of the Department of Agriculture. Others became protestors, demanding parity, and that their voices be heard.

And then came President’s Day weekend, with a massive blizzard. With 23″ of snow it was the third largest storm in DC to this day, smaller only than the 1922 and 1898 blizzards. In Washington, the city comes to a complete standstill with just a few inches of snow, but this was a “mother of all blizzards.” The farmers with their tractors were some of the very few people in the city who could move. They put aside their protesting and lobbying, and started to dig out the Capital and much of the rest of Washington.

After seven weeks, most of the farmers turned their tractors around and headed home. Change didn’t happen in days, or even weeks. It took months, often years. I do hope that Ottawa treats the Canadian truckers better than Washington treated the farmers. As I said in an earlier post on truckers, they deserve our respect and thanks rather than being treated with distain.

Posted on August 13, 2020 by bugsy122019

Votes From Gettysburg to Afghanistan

Last week was the first time in five month that I got on a train to visit family. There were about 25 people on the entire train so I had immense “social distancing.” But would you believe that two people plopped down about 30 feet away from me and started a LOUD discussion on, of all things, mail-in ballots? According to both Ajax and Lysol (names have been changed to protect the stupid!!!) mail-in and absentee ballots are the same thing. 🤯 No, no, no! Did they learn nothing in 5th grade–or any time since then?

Mrs. H. Fifth grade. Steel grey glasses, steel grey hair, steel grey dresses–the only thing that wasn’t steel grey was the brown wooden ruler that she held as she walked around the classroom. On Monday, November 7, the day before elections, we were learning about voting. She took us–quietly and in a straight line–down to the gym where the election officials were putting up the Diebold voting machines. Each of us got a turn to go into the booth, close the curtain and push the various buttons. Then we went back upstairs and Mrs. H. continued.

Many of us had elderly relatives. Some of our fathers were in the military, and others worked in different states. She asked us how they would vote. Paul raised his hand (NO ONE shouted out in that class!) The mail? Well, close. She explained how to use an absentee ballot. You have to write or call (or go online today) the state election board and ask for one. They send you a form. You fill it out and send back. Then they send you the ballot, which you fill out, sign (on the ballot and on the envelope) and send it back so it arrives by Election Day. Each state has different rules, but you have to ASK for an absentee ballot. It doesn’t just arrive like junk mail and catalogues.

It wasn’t always done that way. Prior to the Civil War, people went to town and simply told the election officials who they were voting for. Nothing was private. During both the American Revolution and the War of 1812 a few men in New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey asked if they could vote in absentia, but they were challenged in court and lost. It wasn’t until the election of 1864, in the middle of the Civil War, that individual states decided that men in the military could vote absentee. It was largely done by the Union states, many of whom sent election commissioners with the ballots so that the soldiers could vote in their camps or hospitals.

During World War I, many soldiers and sailors were able to get absentee ballots in the US–it was hit or miss for the men overseas. World War II was different. With 5 million men and women in the military, the Soldier Voting Act passed by Congress in 1942 required all states to provide special postcards to all servicemen, at home or overseas, so they could request an absentee ballot. The ballot would arrive, along with free postage. In fact I remember my father telling us that in October, 1944, when he was on Guadalcanal getting ready for Iwo Jima, he and most of his men voted by absentee ballots. Absentee ballots for anyone in the military is standard to this day.

After the war, most states passed legislation allowing anyone in the military and their dependents, and anyone with a good reason–someone who was elderly, sick, or working out of state–to easily get an absentee ballot. It wasn’t until the ’70s that some states allowed people to get “no-excuse” absentee ballots–though they still have to request one and fill out the form. There’s a very good reason for that. As we discussed in the May 20th post, a 2005 bipartisan Election Reform Commission (remember Jimmy Carter?) found that absentee-ballots are safe and effective–plain mail-in ballots cause very serious problems. Let’s take a quick look at just a few.

1) Last May, the state of Maryland sent out ballots for the primary. One million ballots didn’t arrive. The governor demanded the state Electoral Commission show him how the ballots will arrive in November.

2) Mail-in ballots for New York had to be in on or before June 23–and they just finished counting the ballots on August 4. Roughly 20% were thrown out because they weren’t postmarked, weren’t properly signed, or arrived too late.

3) Parts of Pennsylvania ballots are still being counted.

4) Nevada recently passed both all-mail-in ballots as well as ballot-harvesting, while not requiring postmarks that will show that they were send in on time.

5) 500,000 Virginia voters received absentee ballot application with the wrong information–and they came from an outside group, NOT from the Department of Election.

6) Charges have been brought against four people due to voter intimidation and ballot theft in New Jersey.

NOT GOOD

When we look deeper, we find that only California, Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, Utah, and Washington State have done what they needed to do to make actual mail-in ballots safe. Arizona, Florida, Montana and Oregon are just about there. They have spent the past TEN YEARS carefully purging the voter rolls so that they don’t send ballots to people who are dead, have moved, children, even pets–all of which happens much more frequently than you think!

So here’s a thought. 1918 was a year for Congressional and Senatorial elections. It was also in the middle of the Spanish Flu which killed 675,000 Americans. There was a lower turnout, but people still voted. But they didn’t have the absentee ballots that we have today. Go online, or call your state Department of Elections and ask for an absentee ballot. It may take five minutes to fill out. When you get the ballot it may take you, what, ten minutes, to carefully fill it out and send it in. You don’t even need a stamp! But your vote will count, and that’s the whole point, isn’t it?

Posted on May 20, 2020 by bugsy122019

The World Turned Upside Down

The World Turned Upside Down, an English ballad written in 1640 (still used—think Yankee Doodle) perfectly describes life as it is today. But instead of discussion another aspect of the current medical, economic and political issues, I’m going rogue.😈 Regardless of what happens in the coming months, we’re having an election on Tuesday, November 3. Voting is the most important thing we do as citizens. Particularly in such volatile times, we need to pay attention to a very wise elder-statesman—96-year-old former President Jimmy Carter.

Born in Plains, Georgia, in 1924, Carter graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1946. He was a submariner from 1946 to 1953 when he resigned his commission to take over his father’s peanut company. He opposed racial segregation and worked for reform as a Georgia State Senator (1963-1967) and as Governor of Georgia (1971-1975). A “dark horse,” Carter defeated President Gerald Ford to become the 39th President of the United States (1977-1981). He received the Nobel Peace Price and went on to develop the Carter Center which, in addition to Habitat for Humanity, works for peace negotiations and monitoring elections.

Carter also co-chaired the 2005 Commission on Federal Election Reform along with former Secretary of Stated James Baker III. “Building Confidence in the U.S. Elections,” listed a number of appropriate measure, particularly constant up-dating of registration rolls and universal voter identification using the RealID for ALL voters. Both men believed “Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter-fraud.” Each state has its own way of doing absentee ballots, but they are generally used by those in the military, the elderly, those who are ill, or who are in school or working outside of that state. The voter signs it and popped in the mail or turned in at the appropriate polling place. The Commission was quite concerned that “citizens who vote at home, at nursing homes, at the workplace, or in church are more susceptible to pressure, overt or subtle, or to intimidation. Vote buying schemes are far more difficult to detect when citizens vote by mail.”

Every heard the phrase “Ballot Harvesting?” Organizations in some states are allowed to collect bundles of absentee-ballots and take them to the post office or polling places. If they were on the up-and-up it might work. But there are too many times when rather than simply trying to help, there is an ulterior motive.🤨 Is one “helping” someone to fill out their ballot or forging it? “Loosing” ballots? “Finding” ballots? When a ballot has been part of a “harvest,” neither the real voter nor the election officials can know for sure that the ballot wasn’t compromised. It’s become an extremely serious problem, and one which has caused increasing tension in both parties. People have actually been convicted for intimidating absentee ballots in 2014 and 2017, and both parties believe there have been very “questionable” election outcomes in 2018 due in large part to ballot harvesting.

Add to ballot harvesting problems—Covid-19. It’s impossible to know how things will be in six months, but it won’t be surprising if many people are still concerned. Of course those who are elderly, ill or who have serious medical conditions should not go out. And there are probably many people who would prefer not to go out if they don’t have to. There are some states which are currently discussing the possibility of voting entirely by mail. Ok, fine. But that’s no excuse not to vote!! Just please, please, please mail your ballot yourself, or ask a reliable family member to mail it, not someone you’ve never met before who’s just “here to help.” 😳

*For more information, take a look at The Heritage Foundation, Election Integrity