When Jimmy Carter first became president, Fidel Castro referred to him on numerous occasions as “The Peanut Guy.” Now Carter is Castro’s best buddy because he spent a week helping Castro spread communist propaganda.

Of course, a lot of Americans referred to Carter as “The Peanut Guy,” and worse. Carter served only one term in the White House. When Ronald Reagan defeated him in a landslide, the joke was, “I don’t know why everyone is so mad at Jimmy Carter. He hasn’t done anything.”

That may be true on the domestic front, but he certainly had a long-term effect on our foreign policy in regard to the communists. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

Carter ran for president on a promise to reduce the size of government. He pointed to his record as governor of Georgia to bolster his claim that he knew how to downsize bureaucracies. His main accomplishment there, according to Citizen Carter, was to reduce the number of Georgia’s government agencies from several dozen to sixteen. What he forgot to mention is that he didn’t actually reduce anything. He just combined agencies to make it appear that he had reduced government. In fact, the number of state employees increased by over fifty percent during his two terms as governor.

But the socialist tendencies he exhibited in the Georgia Governor’s Mansion are not the focus of today’s article. I am more concerned with the aid and comfort Carter gave to world communism while he was in the White House. In fact, Jimmy Carter was the best friend the Communist Party ever had in the White House. I realize he was elected as a Democrat, but from his actions, you would think the Communist Party had put him in office.

Before I go on, let me state that I do not believe that Carter was a communist, nor was he, in his own mind, a communist sympathizer. From my study of the man and his speeches, I have concluded, as have many others, that he is a true believer in One World Government. That belief has colored his every action as a public official. He gave a good indication of his worldview in a May 1977 speech contrasting the focus of his administration with that of John F. Kennedy. The United States, he said, was now "free of that inordinate fear of communism." He did not fear communism because he naively believed that free and democratic governments could work hand-in-hand with despotic communist governments to achieve “world peace.” To this day he fails to understand that the only peace we can achieve with communists and terrorists is the “peace” that exists when they control us.

Let me give you three concrete examples of actions Carter took that were against the interests of the country he had sworn to serve and protect, and which benefited the communist cause worldwide.

First, in 1977 he agreed to give control of the Panama Canal to a communist dictator, General Omar Torrijos, with the Carter-Torrijos Treaties. The United States built the Canal. It was paid for with the lives of Americans and billions of our tax dollars. Under the 1903 Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, the U.S. purchased the land, built the Canal, and was granted sovereignty over it in perpetuity. In other words, we owned the Panama Canal - forever! But Carter agreed to hand control of the Canal over to Panama, against the best interests of America. The Panama Canal is vital to both our merchant and military ships. The alternative is weeks of travel circumnavigating all of South America. The end result of Carter’s action is that today a communist Chinese company owned by the Red Army has the contract with Panama to manage the Canal. U.S. intelligence analysts have speculated that this could give the Chinese a platform from which to launch nuclear missiles against the U.S. mainland. This is something they cannot accomplish from China because of the limited range of their missiles. Under its agreement with Panama, China will take over $32 billion worth of U.S.-built, U.S.-owned military bases in the Canal Zone and operate from fortified positions.

Second, in 1979 Carter sold out Taiwan, which had been our friend and ally for decades, in favor of Communist China. He wanted to have diplomatic relations with Red China, but the communists made that conditional upon Carter agreeing to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a democratic nation, and recognizing the Communist Chinese as the only legitimate Chinese nation. So Coward Carter terminated the U.S.-Taiwan defense treaty, leaving Taiwan defenseless against the aggressive Red Chinese. Taiwan was part of the British Empire, but Britain could not stand up to Red China without the help of the U.S. So today the citizens of Taiwan are under the control of the Butchers of Beijing who have committed so many barbaric human rights violations, including the murder of twenty million of their own citizens. Thank you, Mr. Carter, Defender of Human Rights.

Third, he negotiated and signed a lop-sided treaty with the Soviet Union for which he should have been impeached. The SALT II Treaty, as it was known, was so detrimental to U.S. interests that if we had been forced into an armed conflict with this communist bloc of nations, we could well have been outgunned. Carter agreed to reduce our nuclear arsenal dramatically, while allowing so many loopholes that the Soviets could get away with only minor cuts. He also failed to negotiate any effective means of monitoring whether the communists actually made the reductions to which they had agreed. Instead of actual physical inspections, the treaty forced the U.S. to rely only upon photoreconnaissance satellites. Carter, with his desire for a one-world-government may have thought he was making the world a safer place with SALT II. He was making it safer - for the communists. Fortunately, the Senate never ratified the treaty.

Carter is our nation’s most embarrassing former president. I realize a good case could be made for Bill Clinton in this regard, but I think he has actually been remarkably restrained in his public utterances since he left office. Carter, on the other hand, has interfered with the foreign policy of virtually every administration since the nation had the good sense to deny him a second term. (See Carter’s Secret Meeting with Castro in 1989 in the Resources section below.) In his speeches he has praised a virtual parade of communist dictators with blood-stained hands, including North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il, Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, and, of course, his old buddy Murderer Castro.

Supporters of Carter’s trip to Cuba defend him by saying that he went there as a private citizen. I’m sorry. Anyone who accepts the office of President of the United States knows he will never again be a private citizen. Former presidents are seen by the world as representing the government of the United States. Castro knows this well, and is using Carter’s visit for all its propaganda value, both with his own people and the world community. The majority of the world sees Carter’s visit as the United States’ endorsement of Castro’s repressive regime. And Castro loves it.

I respect the fact that former President Carter took the time and trouble to learn to give his speeches in Spanish. That showed respect to the Cuban people that I am sure they appreciated. However, every time he rose and opened his mouth to speak, the substance of his remarks damaged our country, encouraged communism, or proved how little he knows about the subjects on which he spoke. Let’s take a look at a few Stupid Statements Carter made in Cuba.

Stupid Statement #1. Asked by reporters about our State Department’s verified reports that Castro has biological weapon research facilities and is sharing his research with other terrorist nations. Carter replied that he “…hasn’t seen any indication of such facilities.” And you think Castro is going to include that in the tour, Peanut Guy? By the way, Carter claims that he was unaware that Castro is into bio weapons, and that the announcement by the State Department last week about Cuba’s terror weapon research was made to embarrass Carter. In fact, a similar announcement was made two months ago, and there have been Congressional hearings on the subject.

Stupid Statement #2. Talking to a group of school children, Carter praised Cuba’s “superb educational and social systems.” Their “superb” schools are propaganda machines, teaching children twisted history and encouraging hatred of America and democratic institutions. I could almost forgive that Stupid Statement and attribute it to Carter’s habitual failure to inform himself before opening his mouth. However, I can’t believe that Carter, who claims to be a devout person, could possibly be unaware that Cuba’s “superb” social systems include a systematic repression of religion. How could this church-going Baptist praise a regime that has executed its own citizens for expressing their faith?

Stupid Statement #3. In a speech at the University of Havana supposedly televised to all Cubans, Carter attempted to show that he is fair and even-handed. He said, “Yours is not a democratic society.” As a twelve-year-old friend of mine would say, “Well, duh!” The people of Cuba are well aware that in “elections” the only guy on the ballot is Castro. Why didn’t you use your opportunity to say, “Mr. Castro, stop murdering people who oppose your dictatorship. Open your prison doors and release the thousands of political prisoners you are holding. The only freedom the Cuban people have is the freedom to risk their lives trying to escape from your oppression.”

Stupid Statement #4. “The United States should do everything in its power to welcome Cuba into the family of nations.” When Castro stops training terrorists for Latin America, exporting terrorism to places like Angola, and developing and distributing biological terrorism research, we’ll think about it.

Stupid Statement #5. “The United States should lift the Cuban embargo which has caused such horrible suffering to innocent children.” Maybe we should change his nickname to “Peanut Brain.” I would love to talk to Mr. Carter and have him explain how the refusal of one nation out of almost two hundred to trade with Cuba could have any effect on their economy. Yes, we are the largest nation close to Cuba. But there is NOTHING that we could sell them that they are not already buying from hundreds of other nations. Carter says the embargo is ineffective. I will agree that in an economic sense it has had little or no effect on Cuba, Carter’s and Castro’s lies notwithstanding. But it has had great effect in an area which Carter does not seem to comprehend - Principle. You may have no principles, Mr. Carter. Your willingness to lavish praise and lend the prestige of your former office to a brutal dictator proves that beyond doubt. But citizens of the United States have died to defend the principles of liberty and freedom for all. “All” includes Cubans. The continuation of the embargo sends a clear message to the world: The United States continues to believe in liberty and freedom, and we will not rest until the people of Cuba enjoy these rights.

I respect the work Mr. Carter does for the Habitat for Humanity. I think it is wonderful that he builds homes for poor and homeless people, often with his own hands. Unfortunately, a man of such commendable deeds negates his efforts with his words. We would all be better off if Mr. Carter kept a hammer in his hand and nails in his mouth.

Would someone please tell Jimmy Carter that he is no longer president?

Resources:

Panama Canal

• Important article by a former employee of the Panama Canal Commission
• Statement of U.S. Congresswoman Helen Chenoweth regarding the illegality of Carter’s Panama Canal Treaty
• The Panama Canal: Threats to U.S. security and China’s Growing Role in Latin America
• TIME Asia article on the Panama Canal handover
• Not surprisingly, the World Socialist Website thinks the Carter Treaty was a good one

Taiwan

• Asian Studies Center - “No Hong Kong Deal for Taiwan”
• An essay on the “Three Chinas” - Red China, Tawian, and Hong Kong
• House Resolution 221 - Concerning Taiwan

SALT II Treaty

• State Department SALT II Website
• Soviet Violations of Arms Control Treaties

Carter’s Interference in Foreign Policy

• Carter’s Secret Meeting with Castro in 1989
• Jimmy Carter’s Legacy - Describes his fumbling attempts at diplomacy as former president