An Hour Before Darkness: Jimmy Carter and Legacy

My signed copy of “Keeping Faith” by Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States, is in hospice as of the writing of this. With the soon passing of any major figure, hundreds of retrospectives will appear (and are already appearing) across newsites and blogs alike, so forgive me for adding my own.

What Good Can We Do?

Jimmy Carter is something of a hero of mine. Ever since I took a free ethics course on Consequentialism six years ago, I’ve been fascinated by what is the best use of our time and resources if we want to make the world a place of less suffering and more well-being. This led me to donate a kidney back in 2018, has led me to seek which organizations are the most effective and deserving of donations, and generally frames how I approach my work and the world. Obviously, an obsession with any ethical system can be debilitating, but a healthy integration of an ethical system into day to day decision-making and long-term thinking has helped me find direction and purpose in life. To me, one of the individuals who has embodied this day-to-day and long-term approach to ethics is Jimmy Carter.

In the 1980 election, incumbent Jimmy Carter was absolutely thwapped by then-Governor Ronald Reagan. Receiving less than 10% of the vote, Carter’s unpopularity was born out electorally.

Presidential, cont.

Much of what people know about Carter, naturally, come from his time in the Oval Office. He was, to put it simply, not a popular President. He lost all but 5 US States in his reelection bid, a landslide almost unthinkable in today’s polarized America. Much can and has been written about his political fall from grace, and I’m no Presidential apologist, but ultimately I believe that the things that caused his political downfall are related to his dedication to doing good in the world: a foreign policy centered around human rights, a domestic energy policy that promoted renewable energy, calling for the real grit of communities even when it was not popular, and creating the framework for our modern craft brew culture. While my politics greatly differ from those of Carter, I will be the first to admit that his political life was driven by an ethical framework that seems absent from the political calculus visible in modern presidential agendas.

For all his presidential achievements and aspirations, though, Carter didn’t stop working once he left the White House, and much of the reason I admire him comes from his work post-presidential tenure. In the 1980s, when Carter left office, the Guinea Worm infected ~3.5 million people annually. What is the Guinea Worm? It’s a pretty horrific parasite that infects humans and a few animals. The Guinea Worm typically enters humans who drink unclean water, and develops in the body over about a year. After this time, it moves to the legs and feet, where it causes burning sores. The sores are so painful that people tend to soak their legs and feet in water to soothe the pain, where the guinea worm bursts out, releasing thousands of little Guinea Worms into the water, restarting the cycle. Worse yet, unlike other worm-based (helminthic) diseases which can be treated with simple and cheap pills (“Anthelmintics”, deworming campaigns deserve their own blog post!), there is no vaccine or medicinal cure for the Guinea Worm. Treatment involves slowly pulling out the nearly 3 foot Guinea Worm from the sores of the infected, a long and arduous process, meaning prevention is the best tool for stopping the disease. Given the widespread nature of the disease, this seemed nearly impossible.

From the Carter Centers most recent publication on eradication progress, 13 human cases were reported worldwide in 2022.

From the White House to Digging for Worms

In 1986, the Carter Center decided they would set out to do the impossible. In partnership and informed by countries where the Guinea Worm was endemic, the Carter Center took the lead on the world’s Guinea Worm eradication efforts through education initiatives, clean water projects, and a few other methods (including burying fish guts!). Slow at first, the Guinea Worm has now bee eradicated from 15 countries, with cases still reported in just six countries. 15 countries free from a plague that has affected humans for at least three thousand years. The emergence of Guinea Worm in dogs, first seen in 2012, have set back the eradication efforts, but the end of the disease is in sight. In 2022, there were thirteen human cases total worldwide. Thirteen. Down from 3.5 million cases forty years ago. When eradicated, it will be the second human disease ever eradicated (after smallpox), and the first parasite ever eradicated. It is sad that it looks as though Jimmy Carter will pass before seeing eradication, but he can rest knowing that without his effort it is likely that the disease would be still be debilitating millions of people.

The Great Man

There are other ways to praise the good works of Jimmy Carter - the Carter Center has a number of other projects it works on, and Carter’s volunteering even in old age is remarkable - but for now I will leave with an observation, one I believe I inherited from an internet forum years ago. Eradicating a parasite such as the Guinea Worm is perhaps the greatest accomplishment one can have in life. It would seem to me, and I think many would agree, that being President of the United States is the second greatest thing Jimmy Carter ever did. Of course, I’m not a fool when it comes to global health; I realize that any widespread initiative like this is the coordinated effort of millions of individuals and dozens of governments and that I’m engaging in a fallacious “Great Man” view of history, but perhaps you can forgive me eulogizing a man who lived his life in dedication to the human endeavor.

Carter working on the ground. His memory propels me to do the good that I can in the world.

One of the fundamental components of Consequentialism is focusing on the most good you can do. It is hard to think of a better example of someone using their power and privilege to do good in the world. Perhaps there are more impressive of post-Presidential careers historically, in the case of Taft becoming the tenth Chief Justice of the United States, but I would argue that in terms of helping humankind, Carter stands alone.