To the editor:

We’ve been flying flags at half staff in honor of Jimmy Carter for too long. Main stream media has been recalling warm fuzzy feelings for the former President. He might have been a gentleman, generous with his time, soft spoken, and a religious man. Even I can honor him for those things. What he wasn’t, was a great President.

I remember Jimmy Carter as being a pushover by foreign interests. He was president during a time when OPEC nations enjoyed their greatest influence over the United States. Gas prices went from around 25 cents a gallon to over a $1 a gallon. Raising energy prices crippled our economy. Carter responded by instituting the unpopular national 55 mph speed limit (punishing US citizens) rather than holding OPEC accountable for their actions. Fifty-two US hostages were held for 444 days in Iran from 1979 to January 20, 1981. Oddly enough, the hostage release happened just before a much Stronger President Ronald Reagan took the oath of office. Carter let the former Soviet Union push the US around during the Cold War. Reagan stood in front of the Berlin Wall and demanded Gorbachev tear down the wall (which he did).

We also saw interest rates for borrowed money soar from about 6-8% to 15-18% during the Carter years. This, in combination with Carter’s failed grain embargo on the Soviet Union, eventually threw US agriculture into a tail spin in the mid 80’s. I started farming in 1982, and have vivid memories of bank foreclosures, farm auctions, and even the killing of a bank official right here in Minnesota. So please main stream media, if you are going to remember the good, you must also remember the bad. Carter will be remembered as a better former President than an actual leader. Let’s raise the flags, now that we have a real leader in office again.

Paul Platz

Lafayette