Friday's Internet Edition, May 09, 2008.
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“I can see where this country is not going to be the same, five-to-10 years from now,” Carter said. “We have really turned the corner in the wrong direction. It appears that each generation in America gets a little bit less freedom. This needs to be turned around.”
Carter, 59, the general manager of Williams Plumbing Heating & Air Conditioning Inc. in Greensboro, considers the Patriot Act, which was passed in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to be an example of how the United States is moving in the wrong direction.
“The Patriot Act was entitled improperly,” he said. “It’s unpatriotic to remove the people’s rights that were granted by the Constitution. [Our government is] holding people in Guantanamo Bay as enemy combatants when there has been no war declared. They should be tried openly, and they should be able to have counsel and contact with the outside world.”
Carter is facing pediatrician Dr. Teresa Sue Bratton and house painter and musician Jay Ovittore in the Democratic primary on May 6. The nominee will face incumbent Howard Coble of North Carolina’s Sixth District.
“If Howard Coble would take a lie-detector test and say that he read the Patriot Act before he signed it, I will withdraw from the campaign — even if I win the nomination,” Carter said. “They signed our rights away without reading that bill.”
Carter also has issues with what is happening to some of the prisoners captured in the war on terror.
“Torture is not something that’s becoming to the United States of America,” Carter said. “That’s not what we’re suppose to be about.”
Carter said he is about change.
“Our current representative is nothing but a rubber stamp for the Republican Party,” Carter said. “On occasion, he will go off-route from his party, but when he does that he knows the votes are already there.”
Carter was born into a military family in Fort Jackson, S.C. His parents were from Guilford County, but his father served in World War II, Korea and served three tours in Vietnam. Johnny Carter grew up in Greensboro and went to Ben L. Smith High School. He worked his way up to general manager of a trucking company before returning to Greensboro. He and his wife Teresa have two grown sons.
“I actually think I’m the man for the job,” Carter responded when asked what was different between himself and his Democratic opponents for the nomination. “The difference between me and them is that I’m not running for myself, I’m running for the people of the Sixth District.”
Carter, who lives with his wife in a spacious, modern house in northwestern Guilford County, said he has personally bankrolled his entire campaign — with one exception.
“I did receive one contribution, which was unsolicited,” he said. “If I don’t get the nomination, I’ll return it. If I do win the primary, I will turn to the Democratic Party and ask for support.”
Note that Carter did not say he wanted support from corporations.
“Corporations are what’s funding our politicians,” he said. “In the process of doing that, they are purchasing influence. The parties get behind one candidate, decide what his platform will be and, if he doesn’t go along with it, they’ll pull the support away from him.”
The Summerfield resident, whose campaign headquarters is in his house, said the system he described is not one he is willing to go along with.
“I’m on my own; all my stuff is coming from me,” he said. “I’m old school; I believe in southern tradition. I think I have a good grasp of constitutional law, and I think our Supreme Court is trying to legislate from the bench.”
Carter said the solution to the health care problem in this country is simple.
“I believe in universal health care for every American system,” he said. “The same program your Congressman and senators have got — that they keep voting you can’t have and that you pay for — should be available to you.”
When it comes to immigration, Carter has another simple solution.
“You get the people you have elected to office to enforce the laws that are on the books,” the candidate said. “Anybody who commits a crime or who has committed a crime in Mexico is going back, but the families that have paid their taxes and have broken no laws have a right to be given a path to citizenship.”
More of Carter’s views and ideas can be seen on his Web site at www.johnnycarterforcongress.com.
“If we Americans can come together — no matter what the problem is — we can solve it,” he said. “The government is the problem. If we keep electing the same people back in, we’ll get the same results.
Staff Writer Kevin Reid can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 230, or at reid@tvilletimes.com