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Dear Progressive Reader,

Tuesday October 1 was the night of the long-awaited vice-presidential debate. While J.D. Vance showed his debate skills, honed ([link removed]) at Yale Law School, the Midwest-born-and-raised Tim Walz showcased ([link removed]) his simple down-to-earth style. Walz got in the best one-liner when he said ([link removed]) to Vance, “That’s a damning non-answer,” after Vance refused to say that Trump had lost the 2020 election. However, the most quoted line of the evening may have come not from a candidate, but from co-moderator Margaret Brennan when she said ([link removed]) during one of the few unruly moments: “Gentlemen, the audience can't hear you because your mics are cut.”

October 1 was another event as well—it was the 100th birthday of former President Jimmy Carter. Carter is the first former U.S. President to reach the century mark, and is most certainly remembered as our best ex-President ([link removed]) for all that he has done since leaving the White House. “My life since the White House has been much more all-encompassing, much more enjoyable,” he told ([link removed]) The Progressive’s Amitabh Pal in a 2008 interview. “The main thing that I’ve acquired in the last twenty-seven years has been access to the poorest and most destitute, forgotten, and suffering people on Earth. It’s not possible for a President to actually know them. But we go into the remote areas of Africa, Latin America, and Asia, and actually meet with people who are suffering and find out why.”

Carter’s post-presidential years are marked by work with Habitat for Humanity ([link removed]) , the Friendship Force ([link removed].) , and the Carter Center ([link removed]) which monitors elections around the globe. In November 2000, I had a chance to speak with Carter during a press opportunity that included a one-mile jog in Madison’s Olin Park. I asked him at the time if the Carter Center would be looking into the contested U.S. presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. He said no, because the United States would not grant them the level of access to data and information that other nations provided.

Carter’s time in the White House has been characterized ([link removed]) as a “moral” presidency—coming in the wake of the years under “crook” Richard Nixon. In his Inaugural Address, Carter said ([link removed]) “Let our recent mistakes bring a resurgent commitment to the basic principles of our nation, for we know that if we despise our own government we have no future. We recall in special times when we have stood briefly, but magnificently, united. . . . Our Government must at the same time be both competent and compassionate.” He echoed these sentiments two-and-one-half years later when he told ([link removed]) the nation, “The symptoms of this crisis of the American spirit are all around us. For the first time in the history of our
country a majority of our people believe that the next five years will be worse than the past five years. Two-thirds of our people do not even vote. . . . As you know, there is a growing disrespect for government and for churches and for schools, the news media, and other institutions. This is not a message of happiness or reassurance, but it is the truth and it is a warning.” Today Carter clearly perceives this danger again. When asked by his son Chip recently about his upcoming birthday celebration, The Washington Post reports ([link removed]) he told him, “It’s just a birthday. He said he cared about voting for Kamala Harris.”

This week on our website, Arvid Dilawar investigates ([link removed]) the role of the Internet site Eventbrite in supporting illegal settlements in East Jerusalem; Stephen Zunes analyzes ([link removed]) the escalation caused by “turning pagers and walkie-talkies into weapons of war” in Lebanon; and Nell Srinath writes about ([link removed]) the continued impact on the Harris campaign of not halting weapons shipments to Israel in its war on Gaza. Plus Hilary Goodfriend and Alexander Main examine ([link removed]) Mexico’s changes to its judicial system as a new president takes office; Eleanor Bader reviews
([link removed]) the new book The Big Lie About Race in America's Schools; Kali Daugherty pens an op-ed ([link removed]) on the need for paid family leave; and Griffin Dix, whose son was killed by an unlocked gun, opines ([link removed]) on the important need for gun storage laws.

Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.

Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher

P.S, - If you are in or near Madison, Wisconsin, during the week of October 14, The Progressive is helping host two important films you should see before Election Day. On Tuesday October 15, we are welcoming a screening of the new documentary Bad Faith ([link removed]) which tells the story of the rise of ChristianNationalism and its impact on politics. This one-night-only screening will be followed by a Q&A with scholar Nancy MacLean ([link removed]) . Then on Thursday October 17, we will welcome the Madison premiere of Vigilantes, Inc.: America's New Vote Suppression Hitmen ([link removed]) by investigative journalist Greg Palast. The film will be followed by a Q&A with Palast. Both events will take place at The Barrymore Theatre, 2090 Atwood Avenue in Madison. More information is available at barrymorelive.com ([link removed])
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