slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Former presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Jimmy Carter had good perspectives on the future of our country and proved spot-on in their observations.

By Scott Baradell, Distinguished History Major, University of Virginia

What is the most accurate prediction ever made in a speech by a U.S. president?

I’ll give one answer for our foreign policy and one for our domestic policy. Unfortunately, both predictions were as dire as they were accurate.

Foreign policy:

Republican Dwight Eisenhower predicted that, once the United States had built up a large, permanent military presence as a result of WWII and the Cold War, it would be difficult to keep those forces from dominating our foreign policy.

Excerpt from Eisenhower’s January 17, 1961 address:

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well.

But now we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

Domestic policy:

Democrat Jimmy Carter accurately predicted that our selfish, consumerist culture, if left unchecked, would lead to an ugly stalemate in government and diminish our standing in the world.

Excerpt from Carter’s July 15, 1979 address:

In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns.

The symptoms of this crisis of the American spirit are all around us. The willingness of Americans to save for the future has fallen below that of all other people in the Western world. There is a growing disrespect for government and for churches and for schools, the news media, and other institutions.

This path leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. That path would be one of constant conflict, ending in chaos and immobility. It is a certain route to failure.

The president with the most military experience in our history (46 years active duty) warned us about giving the military and arms industry too much power, and we ignored him. The president best known for practicing Faith in his daily life (he has been a Sunday school teacher for 50+ years) warned us about losing faith in our government and each other, and we ignored him, too.

Milosia2 Loc: Cleveland Ohio

Now today the right disparages them both every chance they get . Eisenhower was the
Last Republican President we ever had.
All after Eisenhower have lead us to trump .
A cultist .
And Carter had Solar Panels on the Whitehouse roof.
Balanced his budget twice .
The willingness of Americans to save for the future ended after Reagan abolished the middle class and divided the wealth they had accrued for their families and future
Among his rich friends. $3Trillion in wealth was t***sferred up the chute.
Earned from hard work by the middleclass only to have it stolen by Reagan the wonderful.
Is it any wonder there’s no interest in playing the same game their parents
Played and Lost ?
Now they’re working 4 jobs only to stay alive. At some point you’re going to throw up your hands and walk away .
Now with the 4th of July looming ,
We are more willing to celebrate
Freedom From Independence!!!!

Rose42

Try to refrain from lying for just a day. It would be a refreshing change from your noxious yip yap.

Rose42

Eisenhower was spot on. Carter was too- mostly. I don’t think government is something to have faith in as much as keep an eye on to keep it honest.

Milosia2 Loc: Cleveland Ohio

It wasn’t always like this .
Only since 1980 when your pal Reagan proclaimed the government to be the enemy!

Milosia2 Loc: Cleveland Ohio

I don’t lie.
You are incapable of accepting the t***h!

Rose42

You do lie. In fact, you just lied again by claiming you don’t lie. You are hands down the most prolific liar on OPP.

Milosia2 Loc: Cleveland Ohio

I don’t lie to democrats .
Even when I tell them the right lies .

Rose42

Yet another lie. When you lie you lie to everyone. You need help

SeaLass Loc: Western Soviet Socialist Republics

Exactly, and I would say that the founding fathers were very much aware of this fact. Their entire concept of government was to block the accumulation of power by government officials as much as possible. The bill of rights is basically a list of things the government should be prevented from doing, the idea of representee democracy was the hope that the v****g public would get rid of politicians that became too power-hungry, and the government itself had multiple built in checks and balances to make it a slow and difficult process to accumulate centralized political power.