Cheers to President Carter

Caleb O. Brown

Reports of Jimmy Carter’s death have long been premature, but if nothing else, he has been given the gift of many living wakes. We held our own for him in this space seven years ago, highlighting a podcast with Regulation Magazine editor and Cato Senior Fellow Peter Van Doren.

As Peter notes in our conversation, prior to the Carter administration, very few outside the wealthy had ever flown on an airplane. It was during his tenure that the federal government looked at flights in places like California, where the lack of regulation in intrastate flights meant air travel per‐​mile was significantly cheaper than flights between states. It was only because of this deregulation that air travel became as accessible as Greyhound buses had been prior. Many of his regulatory reforms are less visible and sexy, but even more impactful — such as what his deregulation of railroads did for logistics and shipping.

When President Carter’s finally receives his reward, it would only be fair to raise a glass of your favorite microbrew in his honor — seeing as it was he who legalized home brewing, and let loose the creative juices that have since led to America’s microbrewery revolution.