Jimmy Carter's points about Middle East valid

As the founder of the Jimmy Carter Jamboree, an eight-year project honoring the former president, I feel profoundly obligated to raise the conversation about his book, published in 2006, titled “Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid.” It is relevant in the current conversation about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

We have a responsibility to this conflict and for ignoring the wisdom of Carter, our 39th president, who raised the conversation nearly 20 years ago and endured intense criticism for his book. Before we blame ourselves for ignoring Carter's wake-up call, let's acknowledge the level of propaganda that has consumed us in our own country. The assault on Carter has lasted for more than 40 years. I wonder if our alliance with Israel made us deaf and blind to Carter's call for peace and cooperation.

We are so mired in political narratives and indoctrination. I marvel at the fact that former President Ronald Reagan, the hero of the Republican Party, stands as a statue today representing California in Washington, D.C. Reagan's policies devastated our middle class, cultivated billionaires (as well as the working poor) and pushed military spending and big corporate power with his trickledown economics and knock down of labor. Reagan was making business with the oil industry in Saudi Arabia while Carter was pushing for sustainable solar energy to curb greenhouse gases and pushing the U.S. to be energy independent.

It is high time to ask about the wisdom we have ignored for these past 40 years. It's time to listen to Carter.