The cancer infecting the political Left

[Bob Butler 54]

(12-11-2020, 06:34 AM)Einzige Wrote: Both Ford and Carter had cults of personality. Particularly Carter, who began his career as a race baiting conservative before developing his New South centrist branding. And the end result is the same: pro-business policies, except one is wrapped in the guise of liberal virtue and one in traditional values.

The above goes with the definition of personality cults as having to do with whether you approve of the culture. Obviously, one can approve of liberal virtue or traditional values. Neither suggests more than a worthy approval of what they accomplished. In both cases, they accomplished very little. Both Ford and Carter had negatives which came to result in a lack of political approval which resulted in lost elections. These include the pardon of Nixon for Ford, and the hostage and oil crises for Carter. Carter also spotted the national malaise, the lack of confidence that America could meet any challenge. His mistake was in speaking of it, trying to solve it. Reagan's optimism while trying to do less was a more constructive approach.

But if accomplishments and building a democratic following do not define a personality cult, what does? Neither Ford nor Carter were Mussolini. What if anything in their modes of operation made them a personality cult leader or not? That you approve of the cultures and virtues they tried to advance doesn't count.