President Carter does not comment if it is worth playing in a system so polluted.
This is the question I have for Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren who both agree that the system is corrupted, but our support of them requires also believing that there is some amount of HOPE that they could win.
This former US President goes further than them and says the system is ‘completely subverted’ — completely means the cancer has overtaken the body’s ability to heal itself, right? If the body politic is dead, then why keep trying to revive it?
HARTMANN: Our Supreme Court has now said, “unlimited money in politics.” It seems like a violation of principles of democracy. … Your thoughts on that?
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 congress members. 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 who’s just a challenger.
» Source: Jimmy Carter: The U.S. Is an “Oligarchy With Unlimited Political Bribery”