Excerpt from “A Crisis of Confidence” by President Jimmy Carter, July 15, 1979

In the 1960s, three American leaders were assassinated. In the early 1970s, America lost its first war, the Vietnam War, and saw a president resign due to the Watergate scandal. In 1973 and 1979, Americans faced an oil crisis which caused gas rationing and long lines at gas stations. Morale was low and many people felt hopeless. On July 15, President Carter gave this speech in an effort to restore hope and to inspire citizens to action.

In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We've learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.

The symptoms of this crisis of the American spirit are all around us. For the first time in the history of our country a majority of our people believe that the next five years will be worse than the past five years. Two-thirds of our people do not even vote. The productivity of American workers is actually dropping, and the willingness of Americans to save for the future has fallen below that of all other people in the Western world. . .

. . . All the traditions of our past, all the lessons of our heritage, all the promises of our future point to another path, the path of common purpose and the restoration of American values. That path leads to true freedom for our Nation and ourselves. We can take the first steps down that path as we begin to solve our energy problem.

Energy will be the immediate test of our ability to unite this Nation, and it can also be the standard around which we rally. On the battlefield of energy we can win for our Nation a new confidence, and we can seize control again of our common destiny.

In little more than two decades we've gone from a position of energy independence to one in which almost half the oil we use comes from foreign countries, at prices that are going through the roof. Our excessive dependence on OPEC has already taken a tremendous toll on our economy and our people. This is the direct cause of the long lines which have made millions of you spend aggravating hours waiting for gasoline. It's a cause of the increased inflation and unemployment that we now face. This intolerable dependence on foreign oil threatens our economic independence and the very security of our Nation.

The energy crisis is real. It is worldwide. It is a clear and present danger to our Nation. These are facts and we simply must face them.

Which quotation about America’s low morale is based on fallacious reasoning?

Question options:

a)

“For the first time in the history of our country a majority of our people believe that the next five years will be worse than the past five years.”

b)

“On the battlefield of energy we can win for our Nation a new confidence, and we can seize control again of our common destiny.”