We have just passed the anniversary of something that, if we were a better nation, would have been a massive and sustained (sustainable) turn to the better.
Thirty years ago, on 15 July 1979, President Jimmy Carter gave the "Crisis of Confidence" speech.
There is much about Carter's speech, its approach and (some of) its contents that was (and is) wrong, fundamentally wrong.
Yet, Carter was so right, so fundamentally right that we would be a far better nation and in a far better world if we had followed, in a sustained way, the path he laid out within the speech.
A (sadly) fundamental error
With this speech, President Carter addressed Americans as one might speak at an evening lecture series. He spoke to Americans seriously, as adults, raising serious issues in a serious manner, calling on all Americans to join him in treating them seriously. Sigh ... too many Americans were interested not in being challenged but, instead, in mediocre B(-) movie entertainment.
Crisis in Confidence as gone down in history, falsely, as 'the malaise speech'.
Among all the men who've held the office, however, President Jimmy Carter alone may have the distinction of being defined by a word he did not utter. In an extraordinary speech from the Oval Office on July 15, 1979, the 39th president looked straight into a television camera, deep into the nation's psyche, and proclaimed a "crisis of confidence" in America, one "that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will." Despite a brief bump in the president's approval ratings, the address became forever disparaged as the "malaise" speech, and it doomed Carter's reelection chances. That speech, history has concluded, was a huge mistake.
Ohio University historian Kevin Mattson challenges that conclusion in his feisty new book, "What the Heck Are You Up To, Mr. President?" Chronicling the mood inside the White House and across the nation in the months surrounding the speech -- months when gas lines and Three Mile Island monopolized the news while "Apocalypse Now" and "disco sucks!" dominated the zeitgeist -- Mattson offers a radically different reading. The speech, far from a political miscalculation, was a brave attempt by a thoughtful president to reimagine the nation and bind citizens and government in a common purpose, one that the author believes should still resonate today. If the speech failed, it was not because of the president's words, but because of the way his message was twisted by his opponents and because of strategic flubs Carter made shortly thereafter.
"If the speech failed, it was ... because of the way his message was twisted by his opponents ..." There are so many ways in which the speech remains, sadly, relevent to today.
Back to Crisis of Confidence
Yes, sadly, this speech remains all too relevant today. This speech was amid the second oil crisis, well before our knowledge of Global Warming being so strongly supported by science and well before any common acceptance (understanding) of (global) Peak Oil. Even so, with the exception of a few items (such as the emphasis on coal and shale to be exploited), Carter's recommendations would make sense to execute today.
30 years later, read the speech and/or listen to it.
This is a 30 minute speech, with so material that I will only look at two small parts -- take the time out to read and/or listen to the entirety.
Reaching out to American
Prior to giving this speech, Carter sought out conversations with Americans. Look at some of the comments from those conversations that he included in this speech.
"Don't talk to us about politics or the mechanics of government, but about an understanding of our common good."
This Carter did ...
"Mr. President, we're in trouble. Talk to us about blood and sweat and tears."
This Carter did ...
"If you lead, Mr. President, we will follow."
Sadly, most did not ...
Many people talked about themselves and about the condition of our Nation. This from a young woman in Pennsylvania: "I feel so far from government. I feel like ordinary people are excluded from political power."
How the world has changed ...
And this from a young Chicano: "Some of us have suffered from recession all our lives."
Tremendously ..
"Some people have wasted energy, but others haven't had anything to waste."
And the gaps between wasters and those who can't waste have increased.
And I like this one particularly from a black woman who happens to be the mayor of a small Mississippi town: "The big-shots are not the only ones who are important. Remember, you can't sell anything on Wall Street unless someone digs it up somewhere else first."
Well, something changed. How much of Wall Street is moving around paper (electrons) with not discernible connection to any thing someone dug up somewhere?
This kind of summarized a lot of other statements: "Mr. President, we are confronted with a moral and a spiritual crisis."
Several of our discussions were on energy, and I have a notebook full of comments and advice. I'll read just a few.
"We can't go on consuming 40 percent more energy than we produce. When we import oil we are also importing inflation plus unemployment."
"We've got to use what we have. The Middle East has only 5 percent of the world's energy, but the United States has 24 percent."
Well, we're trying to use up, as quickly as possible, what we have.
[NOTE: this was and is far from the truth if one speaks to oil. This is "Drill! Baby! Drill!" material.]
And this is one of the most vivid statements: "Our neck is stretched over the fence and OPEC has a knife."
...
"There will be other cartels and other shortages. American wisdom and courage right now can set a path to follow in the future."
And, we have that option before us right now as well.
We can lead into a green, clean energy future or find ourselves further beholded to others (like China, South Korea, Europe) who are racing forward with developing clean energy technologies.
This was a good one: "Be bold, Mr. President. We may make mistakes, but we are ready to experiment."
It would be great if Americans were willing to take the necessary societal risks.
And this one from a labor leader got to the heart of it: "The real issue is freedom. We must deal with the energy problem on a war footing."
Whether Victory Gardens or recycling aluminum or saving energy, it is more than 30 years past time to treat our energy and environmental challenges with the seriousness they deserve. This is a battle which should engage every American and we must see change to sustainable behavior as the height of patriotism (Green Patriotism).
And the last that I'll read: "When we enter the moral equivalent of war, Mr. President, don't issue us BB guns."
This was a long (over 30 minutes) and complicated speech, which has been well studied and analyzed over the years (as well as mischaracterized as the "Malaise" speech, again, a word Carter never uttered). Let us spend just a few moments on the closing minutes, where Carter directly focused his attention to energy issues and recommendations:
Energy will be the immediate test of our ability to unite this Nation, and it can also be the standard around which we rally. On the battlefield of energy we can win for our Nation a new confidence, and we can seize control again of our common destiny.
These words remain true today. Perhaps "Energy and Climate", but President Obama could utter these words with truth.
In little more than two decades we've gone from a position of energy independence to one in which almost half the oil we use comes from foreign countries, at prices that are going through the roof. Our excessive dependence on OPEC has already taken a tremendous toll on our economy and our people. This is the direct cause of the long lines which have made millions of you spend aggravating hours waiting for gasoline. It's a cause of the increased inflation and unemployment that we now face. This intolerable dependence on foreign oil threatens our economic independence and the very security of our Nation.
Well, it is now 50 years and roughly 60+% of our oil comes from overseas. And, well, the impacts remain true ... and worse.
The energy crisis is real. It is worldwide. It is a clear and present danger to our Nation. These are facts and we simply must face them:
We have not been facing them. And, the opposition party wishes us to continue to ignore them while chanting, feverishly, "Drill! Baby! Drill!"
What I have to say to you now about energy is simple and vitally important.
Point one: I am tonight setting a clear goal for the energy policy of the United States. Beginning this moment, this Nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977—never. From now on, every new addition to our demand for energy will be met from our own production and our own conservation. The generation-long growth in our dependence on foreign oil will be stopped dead in its tracks right now and then reversed as we move through the 1980's,
Sigh. Ronald Reagan and McSUV manufacturing and Saudi opening of the spigots in the 1980s had something to say about that.
Sadly, Carter was right but ever so wrong -- we do import more foreign oil, far more, today than in 1977.
Point three: To give us energy security, I am asking for the most massive peacetime commitment of funds and resources in our Nation's history to develop America's own alternative sources of fuel—from coal, from oil shale, from plant products for gasohol, from unconventional gas, from the Sun.
An 'all of the above' kind of guy who, at that time, did not know of Global Warming and had only a limited, at best, understanding of water and other resource implications of shale oil.
I propose the creation of an energy security corporation to lead this effort to replace 2 1/2 million barrels of imported oil per day by 1990. The corporation will issue up to $5 billion in energy bonds, and I especially want them to be in small denominations so that average Americans can invest directly in America's energy security.
Well. I would like to see the issuance of Energy Bonds today to use to fund, for example, renewable energy investments. Amid these tight times, the subscription would likely be filled robustly.
Just as a similar synthetic rubber corporation helped us win World War II, so will we mobilize American determination and ability to win the energy war. Moreover, I will soon submit legislation to Congress calling for the creation of this Nation's first solar bank, which will help us achieve the crucial goal of 20 percent of our energy coming from solar power by the year 2000.
20 percent by 2000 ... Sigh, and we can't even get Congress to agree to 20 percent of all renewables, together, by 2020.
These efforts will cost money, a lot of money, and that is why Congress must enact the windfall profits tax without delay. It will be money well spent. Unlike the billions of dollars that we ship to foreign countries to pay for foreign oil, these funds will be paid by Americans to Americans. These funds will go to fight, not to increase, inflation and unemployment.
Should we have a windfall profits tax today?
Point four: I'm asking Congress to mandate, to require as a matter of law, that our Nation's utility companies cut their massive use of oil by 50 percent within the next decade and switch to other fuels, especially coal, our most abundant energy source.
Sigh about the coal but utilities did, successfully, move off oil which was, prior to the 'oil crises', a major part of America's electrical supply (now under 2% of national electricity).
Point five: To make absolutely certain that nothing stands in the way of achieving these goals, I will urge Congress to create an energy mobilization board which, like the War Production Board in World War II, will have the responsibility and authority to cut through the redtape, the delays, and the endless roadblocks to completing key energy projects.
We will protect our environment. But when this Nation critically needs a refinery or a pipeline, we will build it.
Well, do we need a 'war-like' Energy Mobilization Board?
Point six: I'm proposing a bold conservation program to involve every State, county, and city and every average American in our energy battle. This effort will permit you to build conservation into your homes and your lives at a cost you can afford.
I ask Congress to give me authority for mandatory conservation and for standby gasoline rationing. To further conserve energy, I'm proposing tonight an extra $10 billion over the next decade to strengthen our public transportation systems. And I'm asking you for your good and for your Nation's security to take no unnecessary trips, to use carpools or public transportation whenever you can, to park your car one extra day per week, to obey the speed limit, and to set your thermostats to save fuel. Every act of energy conservation like this is more than just common sense—I tell you it is an act of patriotism.
Making it Patriotic to save energy and not be funding both sides of the war when filling up one's gas tank.
Real patriotism and not the plastering of a Chinese-made US flag decal on that V-12 McSUV.
Our Nation must be fair to the poorest among us, so we will increase aid to needy Americans to cope with rising energy prices. We often think of conservation only in terms of sacrifice. In fact, it is the most painless and immediate way of rebuilding our Nation's strength. Every gallon of oil each one of us saves is a new form of production. It gives us more freedom, more confidence, that much more control over our own lives.
Negagallons -- the cheapest fuel with so many side benefits beyond simply saving money.
So, the solution of our energy crisis can also help us to conquer the crisis of the spirit in our country. It can rekindle our sense of unity, our confidence in the future, and give our Nation and all of us individually a new sense of purpose.
You know we can do it. We have the natural resources. We have more oil in our shale alone than several Saudi Arabias. We have more coal than any nation on Earth. We have the world's highest level of technology. We have the most skilled work force, with innovative genius, and I firmly believe that we have the national will to win this war.
I do not promise you that this struggle for freedom will be easy. I do not promise a quick way out of our Nation's problems, when the truth is that the only way out is an all-out effort. What I do promise you is that I will lead our fight, and I will enforce fairness in our struggle, and I will ensure honesty. And above all, I will act.
We can manage the short-term shortages more effectively and we will, but there are no short-term solutions to our long-range problems. There is simply no way to avoid sacrifice.
Let us work together to find solutions ... for the near and the long term.