Just Plain Jimmy

                   "And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start to mold a new reality closer to the heart"                                                                                                                                        Rush, Closer to the Heart, from A Farewell to Kings, 1977

The 39th U.S. president, James Earl Carter Jr., known the world over as "Jimmy", left this world on December 29. His century-long life was nothing short of extraordinary. From peanut farmer to naval officer to state politician to the Oval Office, Jimmy did it all. In fact, when he got voted out of the White House in 1980, he was a relatively young man at just 56 years old. With retirement age still a few years away, one can be forgiven for wondering what to do next. After occupying the world's most powerful office, how do you go up from there? I guess it all depends on how you define "up". Jimmy was about to experience God's meaning of "up" and as a life-long Christian who taught Sunday School at his church in Plains, Georgia (and in D.C.), he would've understood that in principle. Actually living it, though, is another story and this is where his extraordinary life's work went upwards.

I believe that God isn't all that impressed by our lofty positions, pomp or pageantry. Being King of the universe, the Creator of all things seen and unseen, why would He be awestruck by all the fuss we make over ourselves? While human institutions are important, powerful and much needed for maintaining peace, justice and good order, God has no problem in using them as mere stepping stones for His purposes in the world. Such was the presidency for Jimmy Carter. It was merely a spring board for something far greater in the eyes of God - peacemaking. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God" and by answering the call, Jimmy showed the world just what noble and great things God can accomplish through those who say yes to Him. 

I learned just this week that in the 1980s, God began to use Jimmy's presidential fame to help eradicate the Guinea worm disease that was plaguing millions in over 20 African and Asian countries. There were only 14 known cases of this disease by 2023. Had Carter never been president, he likely wouldn't have been able to rally the Center for Disease Control, the World Health Organization and other multinational agencies to get this done. With Rosalynn at his side, he swung a hammer to help Habitat for Humanity build homes for the needy, reminding everyone of our responsibility to the poor. He was used by his own country and others to bring order and harmony to many of the world's trouble spots and he drew attention to human suffering that the wealthier nations often just ignore. Between now and his funeral on January 9, we will hear many more reports of the good deeds he did to better mankind after his brief stint in the White House.

In three weeks, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as president for the second time. I was pleasantly surprised to read the tribute he gave Carter and the comforting words he extended to the Carter family.  It is my hope that Trump will recognize and embrace the source of Carter's greatness instead of focusing on the political revenge that is quickly becoming the hallmark of his boomerang presidency. We'll see his choice soon enough. U.S. flags on federal buildings will still be at half-mast on Trump's Inauguration Day because of the 30-day mourning period for Carter. How Donald Trump deals with that will give us a pretty good indication of what we can expect over the next four years.

What Brian Mulroney Left Us

It was February 29, 1984 when then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announced his pending resignation before the next federal election, a day after his much-vaunted "walk in the snow". The writing was on the wall for the Liberal government of the day and popularity for the Progressive Conservatives under Brian Mulroney was very high. Forty years to the day later, Mulroney passed away leaving a Canada that is much different today than it was before he became its leader. We are used to Canada as it is now - a generation has passed since Mulroney left office - but watching his visitation and funeral these past few days got me thinking about how much this country has changed from when I was a kid. 

Today's pundits have listed exhaustively the policies and accomplishments of Canada's last PC government from Jobs, Jobs, Jobs and the shift to more private enterprise to Free Trade to Meech Lake to opposing South African apartheid to the Charlottetown Accord and so on. But generally speaking, what Brian Mulroney and his government accomplished most was lifting Canada out of its timid insularity. He was neither timid nor insular and because of that he, perhaps unwittingly, declared war on Canada's prevalent, and oddly cherished, National Inferiority Complex. 

One of the first things he did after being elected Prime Minister was to go to New York City to announce that "Canada is open for business". It wasn't long before he scrapped both the highly nationalistic Foreign Investment Review Agency and the National Energy Policy. Over time, the economy under the Mulroney government became more north-south than east-west. Relations with the Reagan and Bush administrations were great, far beyond just cordial - and this made many Canadians uncomfortable, especially those in Canada's media establishment. The vitriol the media laid on him, his government and even his family was constant, unprecedented and often uncalled for. That's what a leader gets for taking the unwilling into new and unfamiliar territory. But that is the job of a leader.

Mulroney not only drastically altered the economy but he forced us to change how we view ourselves, a thankless and difficult task. While his policy changes have, by and large, remained with us long after he left office, he also set us on a path to maturity and in the long run, we are all the better for it. For example, prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada was the only country in the world to have not won a single gold medal at the Olympic Games as a host nation (Montreal 1976 and Calgary 1988). But we were a different people by Vancouver 2010 and thanks to the momentum generated by the Canadian Olympic Committee's Own the Podium initiative, Canada broke the record for winning the most gold medals at any Olympic Winter Games. I believe this wouldn't have happened if we were still locked in our National Inferiority Complex.

Under Brian Mulroney, we shed our identity as a nation of solitudes. His became the natural governing party with a patchwork of Western, Central, Quebecois and Maritime representation. Despite all the scorn heaped on him during his years in power, Mulroney believed that history would judge him kindly and I think he was right. He tried to look past the negative criticism of those heady days (some of it deserved) to his ultimate place in the country's history and before his passing, I believe he was, for the most part, content. He lived long enough to enjoy the status of a respected elder statesman and to reflect wistfully on where he had failed as such. As in any career, there were things to be proud of and things to regret but whether people like him or not, we still have much to thank him for.