WATCH: Jason Carter Mentions His Grandfather Jimmy's Support for Marijuana Decriminalization at His State Funeral

Emerging as a breakout star at President Jimmy Carter's state funeral is his grandson Jason Carter, whose eulogy has been praised as moving as well as humorous. The Irish Star said Carter "blew funeral-goers away" with his "powerful" speech, after which commentators urged him to run for President or some office. 

Joking that his down-to-earth grandparents had a rack by their sink to dry rinsed Ziploc bags, Carter said in all his 49 years, he never perceived a difference between his grandfather's public face and his private one. He continued,

As you heard from the other speakers, his political life and his presidency, for me, was not just ahead of its time. It was prophetic. 

He had the courage and strength to stick to his principles even when they were politically unpopular. As governor of Georgia half a century ago, he preached an end to racial discrimination and an end to mass incarceration. As president in the 1970s, as you’ve heard, he protected more land than any other president in history. Fifty years ago he was a climate warrior who pushed for a world where we conserved energy, limited emissions and traded our reliance on fossil fuels for expanded renewable sources. 

By the way, he cut the deficit, wanted to decriminalize marijuana, deregulated so many industries that he gave us cheap flights and, as you heard, craft beer. Basically all of those years ago, he was the first millennial. And he could make great playlists, as we’ve heard as well…. 

But his life was also a broader love story about love for his fellow humans, and about living out the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. I believe that that love is what taught him and told him to preach the power of human rights, not just for some people, but for all people. It focused him on the power and the promise of democracy, its love for freedom, its requirement and founding belief in the wisdom of regular people raising their voices and the requirement that you respect all of those voices, not just some. 

Read full text of Jason Carter's remarks. 

 

Jason Carter served in the Georgia State Senate from 2010 to 2015 and was the Democratic Party nominee for governor of Georgia in 2014. He is the son of Jack Carter, who was ousted from the Navy in 1970 for smoking marijuana, and journalist Judy Langford, the daughter of former Georgia state senator James Beverly Langford. After graduating from Duke University with a double major in philosophy and political science, Carter served in the Peace Corps stationed in South Africa. In doing so he followed the example of his great grandmother, Lillian Carter (President Jimmy Carter's mother), who became a Peace Corps volunteer at age 68 and spent nearly two years in India working as a nurse with patients with leprosy. Carter later attended the University of Georgia School of Law, graduating summa cum laude with a Juris Doctor in 2004. Since November 2015, he has been the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Carter Center.  

Also eulogizing Jimmy Carter was his Vice President Walter Mondale via his son Ted. Reading from remarks written by his father in 2015, he spoke about Carter's commitment to the rights of women:

All of us know President Carter elevated human rights to the top of his agenda but sometimes we forget how seriously he pushed to advance the rights of women. He proposed and signed the law extending the period for states to approve the Equal Rights Amendment, which now, finally, has been ratified by three quarters of the states. He appointed women to head the Departments of Commerce, Education, HEW and HUD. Women on his White House staff played crucial roles in developing his highest priority energy and environmental proposals and laws deregulating our oil and gas, trucking and airline industries. And he dramatically increased the ranks of female circuit and district court judges, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In all he appointed five times as many women to the federal bench as all of his predecessors combined. 

Two decades ago, President Carter said he believed income inequality was the biggest global issue. Two years ago, in a speech in Lynchburg, he said "I think now... it is the discrimination against women and girls in the world," including the brutal killing of female infants, sexual abuse, human trafficking, honor killings and the rest. He concluded that, until the stubborn attitudes that foster discrimination against women change, the world cannot advance and poverty and income inequality cannot be solved. 

Amen!