July 30, 2015

Word: Jimmy Carter on the American oligarchy

THOM HARTMANN: Our Supreme Court has now said, “unlimited money in politics.” It seems like a violation of principles of democracy … your thoughts on that?

JIMMY CARTER: It violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it’s just an oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or to elect the president. And the same thing applies to governors and U.S. senators and congressmembers. So now we’ve just seen a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors, who want and expect and sometimes get favors for themselves after the election’s over … The incumbents, Democrats and Republicans, look upon this unlimited money as a great benefit to themselves. Somebody’s who’s already in Congress has a lot more to sell to an avid contributor than somebody’s who’s just a challenger.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

And what, exactly, did Jimmy really think Zbigniew Brzezinski was selling when he bought into the Afghan nonsense he was promoting then?
What was Jimmy really thinking when he gave the nod to airline deregulation? It was his FAA that initially set up the PATCO revolt.
On the one hand, we harbor some measure of admiration for Mr. Carter---we were there on Broadway in downtown when he pleaded for votes in the '76 California primary. We believed. In some sense we still believe---it's difficult categorizing Mr Carter with the same crowd as Ol' Slick, Barry, or Hils...
Still, doubts linger. It was during his tenure that the republic fell into threat and jeopardy from the oligarchic forces that now prevail.
Was he truely naive?
...incredulous that such might transpire?
..., or merely complicit?
Say it ain't so, Jimmy.

LJansen said...

Yes, though I have admired some of his Middle East initiatives since he left office, what about: "Inaugurated 13 months after Indonesia’s December 1975 invasion of East Timor, Carter stepped up U.S. military aid to the Jakarta regime as it continued to murder Timorese civilians. By the time Carter left office, about 200,000 people had been slaughtered.
Elsewhere, despotic allies — from Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines to the Shah of Iran — received support from President Carter.
In El Salvador, the Carter administration provided key military aid to a brutal regime. In Nicaragua, contrary to myth, Carter backed dictator Anastasio Somoza almost until the end of his reign. In Guatemala — again contrary to enduring myth — major U.S. military shipments to bloody tyrants never ended."

and the old lust in the heart was also a problem: "Carter’s regard for Cedras matches his evident affection for Cedras’ wife. On Sept. 20, Carter told a New York Times interviewer: "Mrs. Cedras was impressive, powerful and forceful. And attractive. She was slim and very attractive."

from FAIR.org http://fair.org/media-beat-column/jimmy-carter-and-human-rights-behind-the-media-myth/

Anonymous said...

The poison of Buckley v. Valeo was released in January, 1976, but didn't kill politics until 1978. Carter was the last president with a distinguished legislative record, with Robert C. Byrd in the Senate and Walter Mondale as VP. His reelection was stopped by Reagan's covert operations in Iran, upon which Carter was briefed only long afterward by Arafat. And by the New Dem$ behind big money Ted Kennedy, and Nixonite John Anderson. Carter converted George Wallace to integrationism, threatening to end the race war, see Wallace's 1983 fourth inaugural address. Carter is much like John Quincy Adams. The latter's ouster was avenged only by the civil war. Similarly, it takes a civil war-level change to restore Carter's legacy of democracy. Unlike JQA who trained the leadership that preserved the Union, Carter has exerted no influence in domestic politics, rather operating internationally and essentially in exile from American politics.

Corey said...

America has always been run by the wealthy. It was created this way, and will stay this way until the fictiicious belief that the experiment has worked, is abolished. It is only Americans, largely, that don't see this.