Jimmy Carter: The U.S. Is an "Oligarchy With Unlimited Political Bribery"

a reply to: nOraKat

No other civilization has a document like our constitution. It is time for all of us to wake up how it has been sold to the highest bidder. But the constitution gives us the right to rise up against such tyranny also.

originally posted by: marg6043
a reply to: jrod

That is the sad thing about Carter, his legacy has been shrouded in name calling and tagging, perhaps because he never sold his soul to the power behind the presidential seat and neither the wealthy backers, but the truth be known that he was the last honest politician in the Whitehouse.

I stand by that statement.

Well said. I don't doubt that Carter was by in large a lousy president. At heart Carter is a decent man and I think this is why he spoke out about the rise of corporate influence on American politics. It's not often that I agree with Carter , but he may have made one of his most important statements in his 90th year no less.

originally posted by: mymojo
God bless President Carter for telling the truth.

Another word to describe our political system is FACISM.

Im not sure you understand what that term means.

For context, look up Mussolini.

Otherwise, unnecessary hyperbole is part of what has gotten us to the point we are at today.

originally posted by: Willtell
This is not an endorsement of Trump, but he says the same thing but doesn’t use the word oligarchy.


He says the lobbyist rule and claims he won’t listen to them

From my point of view he is part of the lobbyist and want to cut out the middle man and get it cheaper. He is part of the problem not the solution.

originally posted by: greencmp
a reply to: AlaskanDad

People are corruptible and politicians and bureaucrats are people (despite popular opinion).

The thing is, the solution must be to neutralize or at least dramatically reduce the power which is being abused. There is no other way to reduce the cause and its effects.

Don't let anyone tell you that increasing power will do anything but amplify and metastasize the problem.

QFT!

The great lesson of our times...
Only when the people realise this fact about power and corruption will we live in freedom.
Spread the word!

originally posted by: intrptr
Everyone, we know they are firmly in control, they have usurped power of this nation to themselves, there is only one solution to this problem now. Only question remaining is whether the American people are going to do it or will the rest of the world?

Germany here ...believe me loads of people who are sick of this # on the other side of the big pond as well ( greeks, french, finish ...)

We here in the US, we are going to have to vote around them. One way i like is for conservatives and liberals to dump them by voting for Tea Party/ Constitutional-ist types or the Eco conscious Green Party types instead of Rep or Dem. We also
need to make it have consequences, establishing a low threshold for being able to prove due reason to bring a formal inquiry of malfeasance of representatives using a vetted neutral party. The ability of corruption to taint the process and have the power brokers remain hidden from scrutiny has crept into our system.

a reply to: beezzer
I totally agree with you. No one rises without inside help. I trust none of the major players. I see our only hope as we the people dropping out and forming our own network of support or government if you will. There's no sailing to new lands. We're stuck with this mess. The only solution I see is to stop playing their games.

I'm curious as to why people think the right candidate or mathematical juggling will save us. The US government has become a convoluted scheme designed to fleece us and be out of our grasp. They do not serve me as they are mandated, and I certainly will not serve them. We are now expected to be servants of the government. That is TOTALLY backwards.

I see this reversal of service in business as well, but business is free to do whatever the market supports. Strangely, the people support it.

It's not just in America, its the entire global American system that has become totally based on how much you can "squeeze" the little guy and get away with it.

It shines the most in their own business models. My father worked for a company in Canada what used to be called Atlas Logistics. A few years ago the company took on new ownership and changed the name to Logistics In Motion, then hired a new management firm from America called "Americus Logistics". This is what followed...

- Skewed the performance score system so nobody could earn pass 100% and receive any incentives based on their performance.
- Forced mandates in which workers would have to work additional hours, without over time pay.
- Increased salaries for management positions and implementing mandatory education/experience requirements for those positions, essentially blocking people from moving up in the company and reducing the opportunity for promotions amongst the floor workers.

Basically they were able to legally remove $300-$600 from regular workers paychecks each month and it got so bad that practically nobody who started with the original company is working there anymore, instead there is now a massive turnover rate with the employees and they are forced to concentrate on immigration workers and those new to the workforce to do the jobs.

That's the 'MERICAN way! Land of the fee, home of the slave. Oh, how hard you have fallen.

a reply to: xpert11

For a long time I keep wondering why he was so laughed at, now, after reading the OP and his comments I understand as why, it was not because he was a lousy president, it was because he refused to become a pawn.

I believe every word he say about US been an "Oligarchy With Unlimited Political Bribery", I have say that myself over and over here in ATS.

originally posted by: marg6043
a reply to: xpert11

For a long time I keep wondering why he was so laughed at, now, after reading the OP and his comments I understand as why, it was not because he was a lousy president, it was because he refused to become a pawn.

I believe every word he say about US been an "Oligarchy With Unlimited Political Bribery", I have say that myself over and over here in ATS.

No, he was a lousy president. Not to be outdone until we had this snakeoil salesman offering hope and change.

But he wasn't nearly as lousy as history will show. His "most lousy" part was the Iran Hostage Crisis, which (as it turns out) was manufactured by George HW Bush to help Reagan win the election.

Mr. Peanut did sell out, eventually, late in the GW Bush years. He came out saying all manner of wild and crazy stuff. I didn't know if he was earning a few bucks, or if he just got caught up in the political drama of the day. Remember: "I hate Bush" was a much louder, stronger movement than the current "I hate Obama" one.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Bush earned his "hate comments", when he took us into a war, Obama hate comes from been a lame duck catering his hope and change to everybody else but the American people that voted for him.

It's been a lot more than 100 years that us political system has been corrupt.
Problem 24 hours after the put up the constitution, it was no good. The greedy and rich control it all.
I can not see a way out of it. To many will take bribes. It's what destroyed old Rome.

If Rome had not fallen. Then to day we would have peace and freedom you would not belive. Christiany played a big part in the down fall.
Before it we had religious freedom.

originally posted by: MOMof3the constitution gives us the right to rise up against such tyranny also.

The Constitution is a guideline on how the United States government should operate.

The Constitution doesn't give you the right to rise up. You do. It's the same concept as power. Power isn't given to you. Power is something you take upon yourself.

Anyone in any country on Earth may rise up against tyranny. They don't need a document to do it.

a reply to: AlaskanDad

There will be no hope for America! Same sh-*t different day.

originally posted by: marg6043
a reply to: xuenchen

I guess the reason he now tells is that he is old enough and no afraid to be killed for telling the truth.

For years he was ridiculed, talked about and call a poor lame president, perhaps it was in an effort to keep him from becoming to vocal on the issues that we all know too well that are killing this nation, America is not what people think, is what those in power wants us to think.

Here is just the bottom line on Carter. Anytime Carter did as much as misstep or trip, there was a camera there to catch it... He is arguably one of the most unfortunate individuals to have ever been in the spotlight in that regard.

a reply to: JRCrowley

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Masses of people assemblying and petitioning the government is the beginning of rising up against government.

a reply to: AlaskanDad
I agree with him, but I don't think we can do anyting about it.

First of all, a large sum of the people in congress are millionaires. It's out of proportion with the prevalence of millionaires in the general population. So even if you eliminate bribery, the congressman will represent rich people better than poor people because that's their experience.

Second of all, a large sum of the people in government are college educated and their income is much higher than the median income. They cannot represent someone who hasn't went to college or has had little college or is median income or lower.

Third, what MATTERS in RAW terms? Products. Services. Without them, our civilization will fall to pieces. What produces them? Corporations. Businesses. Business is the combined sum of everything involved, like education and intelligence and love and reproductive health and whatever keeps our civilization producing. Yes, you can say people create products and services, but that'd be a great simplification. It's more appropriate to say people form businesses and corporations so that they can create products and services.

Should government let people or things which DON'T matter have a large say in the laws and regulations and other duties a government must perform? Should a person who doesn't work and hasn't been to college be able to write the rules? Should terrible workers be equal to highly performing workers in terms of their say in these matters? Should people who don't help others--and don't even put up a false attempt to help others--determine our rules? Should someone be allowed to write the rules if they don't even know what the present rules are and have no desire to understand them? If not then it follows by deductive logic that the responsibility falls on corporations, since they're the combined sum of things which DO matter. And the people who actually change the rules are the people who understand them best, namely government officials and politicians.

The universe has produced a pyramid with a narrow flat top. We didn't create it. We shouldn't blame people at the top for something which should be blamed on the universe. Obviously, we cannot change the universe easily, at present. There's a way, but it's probably not easy. We'll evolve methods to counter it, probably messing things up more now and then, even as we slowly improve it to make it more friendly to our ideals. And it's clear to me at least we'll actively blame people as we're doing it.

Let me put it another way. Communism and Capitalism and Socialism all will produce the same pyramid with a narrow flat top, eventually. The only way to change this is to chagne hte rules which underlie our universe.

Between "paper gold villains" pushing the spot price of gold lower and lower such that the mega wealthy, and China and India can purchase vast amounts without signaling a crisis, Sovereign debt crisis metastasizing silently in the PIGS countries, to the urban and infrastructure decay one sees at every corner and highway bridge in America...

This article on Offshore "Trickle Down Wealth", says it all...the plutocrats will be immune from a world fiat currency crash, and they've known about it for a long time.

It became clear when he inquired about UFO"s id imagine , but why now ?

If he came out and warned us as POTUS they would have assassinated him like JFK when he tried to anyway. He must be on his death bed id imagine. Always liked Jimmy.