TDS Time Machine | Jimmy Carter on the Rise of Fundamentalism
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My guest tonight, the 39th president of the United States, who is also a Nobel Peace Prize winner. His latest book is called Our Endangered Values, America's Moral Crisis. Please welcome to the program President Jimmy Carter. Sir. Nice to see you. How are you? Thank you.

Nice to see you. Thank you. Thank you for being with us. The book is called Our Endangered Values. It is your 20th book. Absolutely. You have been traveling the world, monitoring international elections, doing wonderful missionary work, building homes. Sir, I ask you this. Why are you busier? Why do you work harder than our actual president?

Well, one reason is that although I have been governor of Georgia, I have been president of the United States, I have won a Nobel Peace Prize, I have 11 grandchildren, and they don't think I'll be a success in life until I've been on The Daily Show, and if I was president... And if I was president, I couldn't be here. I understand, sir. And that's what this show is for. Give kids like you a break. We're here to help you out. All right. Thank you for that. How did...

a Southern Baptist, conservative really, person become the nemesis of the right in this country? There's a certain segment of the country that demonizes Jimmy Carter. It's a very small segment. A very small segment. Well, I told the truth. And this book has now been out about six weeks. Nobody's found anything wrong with it. It points out, I think, in very vivid terms-- it's still on sale--

Yes, it is. And by the way, a lovely Christmas gift this would make. Absolutely. And there have been dramatic and unprecedented basic changes in America's policies that are deeply concerning to me. It's not Democratic versus Republican. It's not liberal versus conservative.

These are radical changes compared to what was done in all previous administrations, including George Bush Sr. and Dwight Eisenhower and Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan and all Democratic presidents as well. These are radical changes, and that's what I thought I'd devote my time to. It's my first book that's been about political issues. A lot of the changes you peg to the rise of fundamentalism.

Not just in this country, but around the world over the past 30 years, beginning with the hostage crisis in Iran. That's true, in religion and in politics.

And lately, what's been of great concern, in addition to what I've already said, is the merger of the two, the merger of religion and politics. Because I happen to be a Christian, and I think that my religion teaches me that you should run to unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, unto God the things that are God's. And Thomas Jefferson, one of our founding fathers, said that we should build a wall between the church and state.

That wall is being deliberately and ostentatiously, not secretly, broken down. So there's been an increasing merger in this country of fundamentalism on the religious side, fundamentalism on the political side, and the two have come together. Do you have a sense in your mind

why that hasn't been stopped by the electoral process. Because there is, I see it everywhere, concern over that type of extremism or infiltrating itself into the government or these things. But every election cycle that comes around doesn't seem to reflect that dissatisfaction. Well, as a matter of fact, in the year 2000, I think the Democrats won. So it did reflect that. Yeah.

And in 2004, the results of election were predictably distorted because about 9 or 10 percent of the American people will tell you today that they vote for the incumbent president even if they don't agree with him or his policies.

As long as he is the commander-in-chief of our young men and women overseas with their lives in danger. So there's a tremendous effect of patriotism in this country. And I think that patriotic inclination was strongly savaged, but also very greatly utilized by the Republicans. And that changes the politics of it.

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