Jimmy Carter says American is an oligarchy

Incumbents on both sides are trying to rig the game so they have access to funding and political speech and no one else does. No matter the rules, the FEC and the IRS are going to administrate them and after watching Lois "Slow" Lerner take the fifth and their refusal to comply with request for information tell us what we all know, the IRS participated in a deliberate attack on political funding and political speech that the Administration did not agree with.

So you want more rules on political funding and political speech, after we saw what you just did?

Good luck with that.

The guys that want more restrictions on political speech want it for one reason and one reason only, they want to muzzle the points of view they disagree with.

We have a first amendment, and for a very good reason, stop trying to undermine it.

 

Supreme Court used to support slavery (special rights) as well.
What is your point.

 

[video=youtube;hDsPWmioSHg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDsPWmioSHg[/video]
so trump is not in with it then..because he has his own money

 

Instead of preaching about imaginary enemies like homophobia and sexism, why don't we eliminate real discrimination, special rights on the books first. Then we can have meaningful conversation.

 

You'd think Obama would have done something when his party had the White House and veto proof majorities in the House and Senate.

 

This is not a thread pertaining to sex in any way.
It is about how the citizens are robbed of being represented by those that are supposed to.
Notice he said: "Democrats AND Republicans"

 

It has always been an Oligarchy, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the elite controlling the masses.

 

All indications are that Jimmy Carter has come to think of Barack Obama as a piece of garbage. Considering that Carter is an idealist (as opposed to an ideologue) it's got to be hard on him that probably the last Dem party president he will live long enough to see become president is a really, REALLY baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad president who's cheerfully become part of the oligarchy.

 

An idealist he most certainly is.Like I said:I'm not a big fan,but in that video he is spot-on.

 

Ahahahah.

Oh wait, you're completely serious.

You seriously think that homophobia and sexism aren't real.

 

Problem is, Republicans consider equal rights for anyone that they do not like to be "special rights'.

 

They might consider anything they want, I am talking about real discrimination laws, like Affirmative Actions that divide people and make it hard to fight oppressive government.

 

Absolutely not, those are just buzzwords that has no meaning neither in science nor in law.

 

When Pandora opened her box she let out all the evils of mankind. When she closed the box again, she locked hoped inside.
I don't have much hope for the future either.

 

This isn't news..

 

If you are 'commending' or agreeing with Democrat Jimmy Carter on this issue, then you can't really put a partisan spin on it simultaneously. Carter went out of his way on this occasion to make sure he did NOT suggest Dems were more responsive, and republicans more egregious on this issue. He' condemning the system itself and the SCOTUS decision that solidifies the inherent corruption of big money in campaigns. When he's talking about the incumbency advantage this provides, he means both parties and he's sure not giving out any brownie buttons to Dems for their 'efforts'. I suspect he is not as pleased as some posters here with democratic efforts. he is not saying that a democratic house, senate and Presidency will do an inch of good anymore, and I think he is right. Dems in Congress are by definition incumbents, too. Should they come to power in both houses and both branches, they will talk and pound the table just as they always do and provide a bill, but it will do a lot less than if there was republicans to blame for a failure. nothing threatening the trough will get out of committee.

 

Those coal plants we invested in are now being shut down right and left.

 

has proven his character many times over since leaving the White House.

But on this one I disagree about Coal. Coal has destroyed much of this country,is the worst pollutant we have. Many of our power plants are changing over to natural gas. It is clean,we have a massive supply.

We need to phase out both coal and oil. Be independent. Solar and wind.

As to the two parties we need some one strong enough to cut down the naysayers. That includes our Corporate media!

 

Obama never had a veto proof majority. Kennedy was dying, Frankenstein was not sworn in.

 

Stevens did not request more security. Stevens also went into an area he was not supposed to.

I feel bad for the deaths, but no way was Hillary to blame.

 

No one is trying to undermine the First Amendment.

The First Amendment does not guarantee anyone the right to buy politiicans or buy election without revealing who they are. That's what Citizen's United made possible, although Justice Alito famously tried to deny that.

Of course, we have seen the almost instantaneous rise of 501c4 and 501c6 false front non profits controlled by billionaires raising unlimited secret cash. Alito has long since lived to see the impact of his decision, and it is precisely what the President said would happen.

It's ironic that you should come on this particular thread, and defend (in very simplistic and false terms) one of the most egregious Supreme Court decisions in US history, and one that virtually guarantees that Carter's point is a good one.

If you think Free Speech is guys hiding in smoke filled rooms with suitcases full of cash, you don't believe in democray.

You may want to think it over, because that's exactly what you argued for. And there is no shortage of evidence either.

 

They pretty clearly refer to prejudice based on sexual orientation or sex.

 

You are kidding, right? The democrat party is a ruling class oligarchy all the way. They are every bit as much into serving special interests at the Republicans. Establishment politicians on both sides are guilty. The democrats are just the worst.

The main problem is politicians on both sides stupidly attempt to enact campaign finance reform by simply placing limits on donations. There is always a way around those limits. Smart campaign reform would be a sunshine law enforcing full disclosure and publication of where any donation over a certain amount comes from.

I am very amused at the left's recent distaste of gerrymandering. They benefited from it greatly for seven decades. The state elections during the 2010 congressional midterm elections shifted that power to the republicans and all of the sudden, they think gerrymandering is horrible.

What voter suppression would that be? Perhaps the democrat party hiring 500 lawyers to go into Florida during the 2000 election and high five each other each time they managed to disqualify a military absentee ballot for something as innocuous as a smudged or missing post mark? Or perhaps the democrats in the south during the Jim Crow Era refusing to register many African Americans to vote. That's why former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice became a republican. The democrat party in Alabama refused to register her father....He therefore registered as a republican.

The military industrial complex is the biggest single reason the allies defeated the Nazis and Japan in WW2. I sure hope the military industrial complex is there for us if another world war breaks out.

Crony capitalism is practiced by establishment politicians on both sides.

The real carnival barker is Hillary Clinton.

Yes....the Tea Party.

Carter is an old fool. He should start by accepting that his own party is all into the status quo. They do not want to change anything unless they think it keeps them in power.

 

As much as especially those on the left do not want to hear it, until we enact congressional term limits, the so-called oligarchy will continue to exist and grow. It is entrenched establishment politicians who enable the special interests to buy into and control congress. Once a politician has been in office for more then eight years, he/she builds up such a large campaign war chest and stable of donors, it is difficult for any new candidate to get past the lack of name recognition. Entrenched power corrupts. And sunshine laws on where the money comes from would be more effective then campaign finance limits.

 

This is pretty much what I was going to say. I'm not sure where the idea that campaign contributions are the a form of free speech (rather than bribes) came from without looking it up, but whoever made that decision, are the ones responsible for the plutocratic nature of our country today.