Blog 5

Blog 5

Because of what Jimmy Carter walked into when he ascended to being president with all the scandals, drama and dark times of the Vietnam war, America was looking for someone to save the nation. Carter being a “born again” citizen seemed like the perfect fit at first, even despite his résumé lacking many major positions aside from being Georgia’s governor. Since he was promising to “never knowingly lie” he had many voters ready to put their faith in him in the hopes that he would lead America out of suffering and into a redemptive period where they could thrive emerging from such harsh external and internal scandals like the war and Watergate. (Balmer, 79)

Since many of Carters supporters were Evangelical Christians who weren’t really active politically until he was getting elected, even if the term ‘born again’ rattled some people. The Religious Right as a political ideology is used to label Christian factions who strongly support socially conservative policies. With Carter’s missionary efforts he truly tried to keep his supporters but many were rattled by his Playboy interview and those who turned to the Religious Right didn’t follow Carter’s belief that he was motivated by Christian principles and morals. (Balmer, 85) Because of Carter’s support for family values, and the Religious Right’s support for things that didn’t fall under that category, like segregation, their support for him dwindled and they tried fervently to defeat him, and religious conservatives to be elected in the future. When people become very passionate about what they are told or what they believe in, they fail to realize they could be wrong, like a group who argues for rights, yet excludes or mutes certain people to those rights, decisions, or meetings. Also, because the Religious Right yearned for a conservative religious man to be elected they desperately wanted the democrat Jimmy Carter to be anything but President of the United States.