The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 31, 2024
Today’s Script
(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
Facing an energy crisis, high inflation, and rising unemployment, President Jimmy Carter addressed the nation in his “Crisis of Confidence” speech on July 15th, 1979.
“The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America. The confidence that we have always had as a people is not simply some romantic dream or a proverb in a dusty book that we read just on the Fourth of July. It is the idea which founded our nation and has guided our development as a people.”
“Confidence in the future has supported everything else—public institutions and private enterprise, our own families, and the very Constitution of the United States. Confidence has defined our course and has served as a link between generations. We’ve always believed in something called progress. We’ve always had a faith that the days of our children would be better than our own.”
“Our people are losing that faith, not only in government itself but in the ability as citizens to serve as the ultimate rulers and shapers of our democracy.”
“Looking for a way out of this crisis, our people have turned to the Federal government and found it isolated from the mainstream of our nation’s life. Washington, D.C., has become an island. The gap between our citizens and our government has never been so wide. The people are looking for honest answers, not easy answers; clear leadership, not false claims and evasiveness and politics as usual.”
We’ve linked the full speech at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.
Full 32-minute “A Crisis of Confidence” speech in MP3 Audio:
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
Voices of Democracy – The U.S. Oratory Project – JIMMY CARTER, “CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE” (15 JULY 1979)
CBS News – Video – President Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” speech – “A Crisis of Confidence”
Bill of Rights Institute – Jimmy Carter and the “Malaise” Speech
The Fulcrum – Jimmy Carter: Defender of Democracy
The Carter Center – Democracy Programs
Register or Check Your Voter Registration:
U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State
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