It's Not Me, It's Not the Oil Crisis—It's You.
- So Carter is quoting the American people, rambling on about long lines at the gas pump when boom, he explains what he thinks is an even bigger problem than filling up the tank.
- He calls it a fundamental threat to American democracy (if this was a horror movie, the scary music would start playing now…)
- What's this threat, you ask?
- Could it be the Soviet Union? Nuclear War? Godzilla?
- No, the threat, according to President Carter, is confidence.
- Yeah, that's right—confidence, or rather a lack thereof. Carter thinks the American people don't have confidence in their country anymore, and he brings along some evidence to back this up:
- Point #1—Materialism: Carter says that Americans have turned to things, instead of people, as a way of seeking fulfillment, and that this has led to unhappiness and frustration.
- Point #2—Low Political Participation: Carter complains that two-thirds of the country doesn't even vote, which is scary for a democracy if only 33% of the people are electing their own leaders.
- Point #3—Productivity and Savings: Carter calls out the American people for declining productivity and for the fact that they save less money than their counterparts in Europe.
- Point #4—Pessimism, Not Optimism: The next piece of evidence in Carter's case for a lack of confidence is the biggest.
- It's the crème de la crème, the sirloin steak in his buffet of criticism.
- It's this: for the first time in U.S. history, most Americans think the next five years will be worse than the last five years.
- Point #5—Historical Context: When trying to explain this lack of confidence, Carter points out some historical events that have hurt the American people.
- Specifically, he recalls the assassinations of JFK, MLK, and RFK. (Man, it was a tough time to go by your initials…)
- He acknowledges the pain of the war in Vietnam and the difficulty of coping with the aftermath of Watergate.
- While this definitely softens some of his criticism, like a lollipop after a shot at the Doctor's, it doesn't take away the sting from his previous comments.