Politics - Two Statesmen

I noted that I have met hundreds if not thousands of politicians.  Very few holders of political office have earned my respect (and one refuses to be considered a politician, even though he held elected office).  Two politicians that I do respect are my former Congressman, Martin Olav Sabo, and former President Carter.

I've never really met Sabo, but I never had to think who I was going to vote for before he retired in 2006. His politics were liberal - one of the first to use the term progressive in current times, but he also thought that local control was better than Federal.  One accomplishment, and one proposal, stand out. First, the accomplishment: he was the chair of House Budget Committee in 1993 - you know, the last year a genuinely balanced budget plan was enacted. The one that every Republican voted against, oddly enough given their supposed support for a balanced budget. The one that led to the Federal Government running a surplus in 1999.  

The proposal was the Income Equity Act. He introduced it repeatedly, starting in 1997, but it never gained traction. Long before Occupy Wall Street, Sabo identified the problem with the increasing disparity between the income of the 1% and the rest - but he proposed to do something about it - end the taxpayers subsidy of that disparity.  See:   http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRECB-2001-pt11/html/CRECB-2001-pt11-Pg15603-2.htm

I did meet President Carter. He and his wife Rosalynn visited Jamaica when i was the political officer there, in the mid-90s. (They visited in January 1997.) We were asked to give the President a country team brief on the situation. I had been making the point repeatedly to my bosses, including the Ambassador, that Jamaica's elections were completely corrupt. Convinced, they asked me to personally handle the political section of the oral brief to the President.  Yikes. That went something like this:

Me: Mr. President, we'd like your Carter Center to observe Jamaica's next general elections for parliament.

President:  No. We only observe elections in emerging democracies. Jamaica is a stable democracy, and its leaders are my friends. When I see them later today, how can I insult them by saying you need my Center's help to run clean elections.

Me:  We mean no offense. But elections here are dirty, and violent. May I give some examples? (Carter nods.) Jamaica's voters must be registered in advance of election day, so the voting rolls are fixed in number. West Kingston, seat of the former Prime Minister, had a turnout of 120% (percent). 3 votes (not 3%, three votes) were cast for the losing candidate. Across the street, in the other party's stronghold, turnout was 135% (percent). One vote was cast for the losing candidate.  Both parishes are run by posses (criminal gangs) - violent groups allied with political parties. Originally, in the 1960s, they were even armed by the parties - but now they have enough money from running drugs to the States to buy their own.  But they still turn out the votes for their patrons.

President: Ok, Kingston is bad.  But that's not the whole picture.

And so on for 45 minutes. Toughest grilling of my life. Jimmy Carter is one very intelligent and literate man.

Oh. He sent the Center to observe the next TWO general elections.

http://www.cartercenter.org/news/publications/election_reports.html#jamaica

Also see:  Born Fi' Dead