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What if Reagan had been more like Carter?
seattletimes ^ | 01/03/2025 | Thomas L. Friedman

Posted on 01/03/2025 11:44:25 AM PST by ChicagoConservative27

In reflecting on Jimmy Carter’s death, my mind skipped to the Apple TV+ streaming series “For All Mankind,” an alternate-reality drama that imagines how the world might have been if it was the Soviets, not the Americans, who walked on the moon first during the Cold War space race.

The alternate reality I’d like to write is in honor of Carter: How would the world have been different had President Ronald Reagan not removed the solar panels that Carter had installed on the White House roof during his presidency with the aim of kick-starting the solar industry and inspiring Americans to adopt clean energy in the wake of the 1970s oil crisis and gas lines?

Carter and his family personally used those very basic solar panels. Roughly 3 yards long and 1 yard wide, they absorbed the sun’s rays and powered a water heater for their living quarters and the White House cafeteria.

Yes, Carter had his share of missteps, but he was way, way, way ahead of his time on clean energy. The man had a much richer imagination when it came to energy than he gets credit for. He was about a lot more than lowering the thermostat and hinting that Americans should put on a sweate

(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: carter; fakenews; friedman; like; more; newyorkslimes; reagan; seattleslimes; thomaslfriedman
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If Reagan was more like Carter he would not have won in a LANDSLIDE in 1980. Thomas is an idiot.
1 posted on 01/03/2025 11:44:25 AM PST by ChicagoConservative27
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To: ChicagoConservative27

For All Mankind started off interesting. Jumped the shark fairly quickly though and I gave up on it.


2 posted on 01/03/2025 11:48:00 AM PST by al_c (Democrats: Party over Common Sense)
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To: All

What if Carter had been more like Reagan?

(The whole dang world would be better off, then, now and in the interim.)


3 posted on 01/03/2025 11:48:05 AM PST by LegendHasIt
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To: ChicagoConservative27

Reagan was a decent man. That’s more than what can be said about Jimmy.


4 posted on 01/03/2025 11:48:29 AM PST by AlaskaErik (There are three kinds of rats: Rats, Damned Rats, and DemocRats.)
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To: ChicagoConservative27

Why is this article, produced by unclean journalism, featured here? 🧐


5 posted on 01/03/2025 11:50:14 AM PST by alstewartfan (Child slavery, rape and drug OD's mean nothing to Roberts and Barrett. )
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To: ChicagoConservative27

What if Carter had been more like Reagan?


6 posted on 01/03/2025 11:53:29 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (The worst thing about censorship is █████ ██ ████ ████ ████ █ ███████ ████. FJB.)
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To: ChicagoConservative27
How would the world have been different had President Ronald Reagan not removed the solar panels that Carter had installed on the White House roof

Uhhhhh. Not one freakin bit different.

7 posted on 01/03/2025 11:54:22 AM PST by Opinionated Blowhard (When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.)
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To: AlaskaErik

The differences with Carter? Reagan was a leader, he had a vision and a program, he was as nice and gentlemanly in private as he was in public, he was religious but not showing off religiosity in public, he was successful, he was elected by landslides twice, he never lost a general election, he never pulled phony stunts like carrying empty suit bags and then dumping his luggage on the Secret Service, he didn’t preside over idiotic gas lines, got the hostages released his first day in office, and got the inflation rate down from double digits to near zero.


8 posted on 01/03/2025 11:56:22 AM PST by laconic ( )
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To: ChicagoConservative27

“The alternate reality I’d like to write is in honor of Carter: How would the world have been different had President Ronald Reagan not removed the solar panels that Carter had installed on the White House roof during his presidency with the aim of kick-starting the solar industry and inspiring Americans to adopt clean energy in the wake of the 1970s oil crisis and gas lines? “


Hostages in Iran, the soviets in central America, double digit inflation, etc, etc, etc be damned...Ronald Reagan removed Carter’s solar panels!!!

What a laughable, garbage article....


9 posted on 01/03/2025 11:58:23 AM PST by God luvs America (6young 3.5 million pay no income tax and vote for DemoKrats...)
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To: ChicagoConservative27

What a stupid question.

Carter’s bumbling and fumbling is what brought Reagan to the White House in a landslide.


10 posted on 01/03/2025 11:59:09 AM PST by Jim W N (MAGA by restoring the Gospel of the Grace of Christ (Jude 3) and our Free Constitutional Republic!)
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To: God luvs America

Great point, well said.


11 posted on 01/03/2025 11:59:19 AM PST by Steely Tom ([Voter Fraud] == [Civil War])
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To: ChicagoConservative27

Jimmy Carter was a horrible president and a horrible person and an idiot.


12 posted on 01/03/2025 11:59:58 AM PST by EastTexasTraveler
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To: ChicagoConservative27

The only ‘Green Energy’ that has any value whatsoever is Cold Fusion.

Wind and solar energy is a massive waste of taxpayer money. Both have inherent weaknesses that cannot be overcome.

Neither can stand on its own, and neither will stand the test of time.

Today’s Green Energy is the Phrenology of the 21st century.

I’ve got a much better ‘what if’ than Thomas.

Suppose that Joseph Kennedy was not able to rig the 1960 election in favor of his son in Chicago, and Nixon took office in January, 1961, as he should have.

Imagine the 1960s without the War in Viet Nam, which gave America’s New Political Left its launchpad.

Imagine the 1960s without the Hippies, draft dodgers like Bill Clinton, without the exploding drug culture which never went away, without the massive increases in government expenditure by democrats trying to buy votes, like now.

The country and the world would be exponentially better off if that 1960 election hadn’t been stolen, very much like the election of 2020.

Election reform is absolutely crucial to the survival of our Republic.

As Clinton’s aides phrased it “…Carter was a treasonous prick…”. Their words, not mine.

Just sayin’….


13 posted on 01/03/2025 12:04:56 PM PST by Thapsus_epiphany (Socialism is a prison, Communism is a death camp )
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To: ChicagoConservative27
We would all be speaking Lapine?
14 posted on 01/03/2025 12:11:46 PM PST by KarlInOhio (Now unburdened by the Biden/Harris administration that has been.)
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To: God luvs America

When the Democrats control government, they inevitably try to force Americans to use things they don’t want and that are not economically viable. If solar panels, EVs and wind turbines were desirable and made economic sense, they would not require government mandates and tax subsidies. Also consider the regressive absurdity of attaching a $7,500 tax rebate when a person of means buys an $80,000 EV.


15 posted on 01/03/2025 12:12:07 PM PST by allendale
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To: ChicagoConservative27

A better question: what if Reagan had picked a better VP?


16 posted on 01/03/2025 12:14:37 PM PST by Nateman (Democrats did not strive for fraud friendly voting merely to continue honest elections.)
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To: ChicagoConservative27

What if Friedman had a brain?


17 posted on 01/03/2025 12:16:39 PM PST by aquila48 (Do not let them make you "care" ! Guilting you is how they. control you. )
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To: al_c

For All Mankind: The storyline was fun, but they would have you believe that half of NASA was homos in the 60’s.


18 posted on 01/03/2025 12:16:56 PM PST by Rio
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To: ChicagoConservative27

I fully admit I laughed aloud in derision when I read this ridiculous opinion piece!


19 posted on 01/03/2025 12:18:18 PM PST by rlmorel ("A people that elect corrupt politicians are not victims...but accomplices." George Orwell)
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To: ChicagoConservative27

Carter was a grifter. He made bank by embracing despots and tyrants in the name of ‘peace’ (meaning his piece of the pie) He ruined the middle east peace prospects with his article “Peace, not Apartheid” It totally distorted Israel and gave us the disaster we have today.
The Carter Center made the Clinton Foundation look like pikers.


20 posted on 01/03/2025 12:19:42 PM PST by griswold3 (Truth Beauty and Goodness)
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