"The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself-always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity"
About this Quote
Carter frames democracy not as a machine that delivers outcomes, but as a lived condition: messy, mutable, and only proven real when it survives stress. The line quietly rejects the consumer model of politics where citizens judge the system like a product review. Instead, he makes turbulence a feature, not a bug. By likening democracy to life itself, he smuggles in a moral standard: expecting steadiness from self-government is as naive as expecting it from being human.
The subtext is Carter’s lifelong argument with American impatience. “Always changing” pushes back on nostalgia politics and the fantasy of a fixed national “greatness” you can restore on command. “Infinite in its variety” is a coded defense of pluralism: difference is not a threat to be managed down, it’s the substance of the project. Then comes the most Carter-esque move: he blesses adversity. Not in a triumphalist way, but as a test that confers legitimacy. A democracy that has never been strained is unproven; a democracy that has been strained and still honors accountability earns its value.
Context matters because Carter’s presidency was defined by the public’s hunger for quick relief: inflation, energy shocks, Iran, and the sense that institutions were failing. Later, as an ex-president, he watched democratic backsliding abroad and polarization at home. This quote reads like a long-view rebuke to short-term outrage cycles: the point isn’t that democracy feels good. The point is that it can keep functioning when it doesn’t.
The subtext is Carter’s lifelong argument with American impatience. “Always changing” pushes back on nostalgia politics and the fantasy of a fixed national “greatness” you can restore on command. “Infinite in its variety” is a coded defense of pluralism: difference is not a threat to be managed down, it’s the substance of the project. Then comes the most Carter-esque move: he blesses adversity. Not in a triumphalist way, but as a test that confers legitimacy. A democracy that has never been strained is unproven; a democracy that has been strained and still honors accountability earns its value.
Context matters because Carter’s presidency was defined by the public’s hunger for quick relief: inflation, energy shocks, Iran, and the sense that institutions were failing. Later, as an ex-president, he watched democratic backsliding abroad and polarization at home. This quote reads like a long-view rebuke to short-term outrage cycles: the point isn’t that democracy feels good. The point is that it can keep functioning when it doesn’t.
Quote Details
| Topic | Freedom |
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