Former president Jimmy Carter slams U.S. Supreme Court for its endorsement of corruption.
In his latest conversation at the Carter Center, Jimmy Carter said:
“Our political system is pervasively corrupt due to our Supreme Court taking away campaign-contribution restrictions on the basis of the First Amendment.”
“You know how much I raised to run against Gerald Ford? Zero. You know how much I raised to run against Ronald Reagan? Zero. You know how much will be raised this year by all presidential, Senate and House campaigns? $6 billion. That’s 6,000 millions.” (It was “zero” from private donors, corporates and individuals, because Carter accepted public funding).
That was part of his devastating indictment of the U.S. electoral process which, he said, “is shot through with financial corruption that threatens American democracy.” He added: We have one of the worst election processes in the world right here in the United States of America, and it’s almost entirely because of the excessive influx of money.”
And that’s because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling that gave unlimited freedom to special interest groups, which represent the wishes and demands of corporations and lobbyists of all kinds, to provide unlimited campaign funding to third-parties that don’t have to disclose their donors. (The Supreme Court justified its decision on the grounds that the First Amendment of the American Constitution prohibited government from restricting independent political expenditures by corporations and unions).
Carter expressed his hope that “the Supreme Court will reverse that stupid ruling,”
President Obama is on the record in a chat with the internet community Reddit as saying that if the Supreme Court does not re-visit the issue, he will seek to challenge its ruling by pushing for a constitutional amendment. (Right now Obama’s concern is obviously aggravated by the fact that a handful of conservative billionaires are pumping in hundreds of millions of dollars to saturate media markets in vital swing states)
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/10/02/carter-slams-u-s-supreme-court-for-its-endorsement-of-corruption/