FORMER U.S. President James Earl ‘Jimmy’ Carter Jr. died December 20, 2024, at the very ripe age of 100. The last time I saw his visage was at the funeral of his wife Rosalyn, in November 2023; he was seen on TV, visibly feeble, being wheelchaired towards his wife’s coffin.
Carter was the 39th president of the U.S., from January 20, 1977 to January 20, 1981. It was during his term, in December 1978, that the diplomatic ties of the U.S. with the People’s Republic of China was formalized.
Carter is said to be the only modern U.S. president to complete his term without war, military incursion, or occupation.
In 2019, Carter, then 94, was consulted after his regular Sunday School lesson at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, via a phone call by President Donald Trump about China as the latter was worried that “China is getting ahead of us.”
Carter’s reply to Trump echoes down to this day, years later:
“Since 1979, do you know how many times China has been at war with anybody?… None, and we have stayed at war.”
Carter explained that the US had been at peace for only 16 of its 242 years as a nation describing their country as “the most warlike nation in the history of the world,” a result of the US forcing other countries to “adopt our American principles.”
China’s peaceful existence and co-existence with all nations has allowed and enhanced its economic growth, Carter explained.
“How many miles of high-speed railroad do we have in this country?” he asked and added that China has around 18,000 miles (29,000 km) of high-speed rail lines while the US has “…wasted, I think, $3 trillion” on military spending. According to a study by Brown University, the US has spent $5.9 trillion waging wars since 2001.
Carter is a patriotic American, but a simple and sincere man who went back to peanut farming after retiring from the White House, engaged himself in working for the poor.
Putting on his hard hat and volunteering with Habitat for Humanity that he partnered with through his Carter Center, Carter was still physically strong, doing carpentry work in houses built for the poor (in 1999, he laid hollow blocks with former president Joseph Estrada for houses meant for poor Filipinos) and pushed for election transparency across the world.
(In 2004, Carter and his Carter Center was asked to observe the US presidential election but he refused, saying: “We wouldn’t think of it. The American political system wouldn’t measure up to any sort of international standards, for several reasons,”— Editor).
As the world and the Philippines enter 2025 caught in the turbulent crossroad between continuing the half-a-millennium of “forever wars” and the unfolding road towards “forever peace and prosperity” of the multipolar world offered by the Global Majority of rising Third World nations guided by China and BRICS, the sincere, simple wisdom of U.S. President Jimmy Carter should be called into mind.
For the Philippines, our advocacy movement envisions 2025 to be the year of “Breakout for Peace” as the national majority rise up against the proxy war and divide-and-rule agenda prevailing under the present US-BBM conspiratorial regime.
We shall oppose and eject the U.S. military bases and Typhon missile systems and under an enlightened, harmonious national leadership, restore national unity for peace, progress, and prosperity.