Jimmy Carter: ‘America no longer has a functioning democracy’

[n2sooners]

You would think that a former president would know we have a republic and not a democracy, but he does, for a change, make some good points.

Former president Jimmy Carter condemned the effect U.S. intelligence programs had on U.S. moral authority in the wake of NSA revelations brought to light by leaker Edward Snowden, Der Spiegel reports.

“America has no functioning democracy,” Carter said at a meeting of The Atlantic Bridge in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday.

Carter also claimed there was currently no reason for him to be “optimistic” about Egypt’s internal conflicts and mused whether the standards The Carter Center applies to foreign elections could be fulfilled by U.S. elections, which he believes are plagued by confusing campaign rules and a lack of restrictions on free speech in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling.

The former president continued that democratic developments — fueled by sites such as Facebook and Twitter — might be damaged by the NSA revelations, essentially strangling emerging democratic revolutions in the cradle by casting doubt on the social media juggernauts’ independent credibility.

Carter is a strident critic of President Barack Obama’s anti-terror policies. In 2012, he penned a New York Times op-ed calling the U.S. human rights record “cruel and unusual,” denouncing the Obama administration’s drone strikes, indefinite detentions and warrantless wiretapping.

“At a time when popular revolutions are sweeping the globe, the United States should be strengthening, not weakening, basic rules of law and principles of justice enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Carter wrote. “But instead of making the world safer, America’s violation of international human rights abets our enemies and alienates our friends.”

Carter also voiced support for Snowden in June.

“He’s obviously violated the laws of America, for which he’s responsible, but I think the invasion of human rights and American privacy has gone too far,” he told CNN. “I think that the secrecy that has been surrounding this invasion of privacy has been excessive, so I think that the bringing of it to the public notice has probably been, in the long term, beneficial. I think the American people deserve to know what their Congress is doing.”

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[daytomann]

You would think that a former president would know we have a republic and not a democracy, but he does, for a change, make some good points.



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Universal Declaration of human Rights ( blah blah blah) aside...Sure he has some points here but I don't agree with every point. More "conservatives" and liberals alike need to realize our foreign policy is a disaster which works against us at every turn and the assaults on liberties are growing beyond what we even thought..in the name of security, it doesn't change from Republican to Democrat these days. This Is why I consider myself more and more Libertarian every day.

 

[n2sooners]

Ya, that's why I said some good points. He is still a loon. I'd say the assault on our liberties does change with each administration. It get's worse....

 

[daytomann]

Ya, that's why I said some good points. He is still a loon. I'd say the assault on our liberties does change with each administration. It get's worse....

Seems to be the case.

 

[71buickfreak]

I never thought I would see a day where I agrees with Jimmy the Peanut. Hell truly has frozen over.

 

[Shadowrider]

Kind of gives real definition and meaning to just how bad this president is when JC says these things and is actually right doesn't it? Hell he sounds like a republican in contrast to what's going on now!

 

[LightningCrash]

Like Inhoffe says: If in 2000/2001 we could have spied on every American the way we do now, we could have prevented 9/11.
Don't you want to prevent another 9/11?

 

[ez bake]

You would think that a former president would know we have a republic and not a democracy, but he does, for a change, make some good points.



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Isn't it a Democratic Republic? A true Republic (limited government) with no Democracy (power/voice of the people) isn't really possible. So calling our system of government simply a Republic as if that somehow negates Democracy is just as incorrect as calling it a Democracy as if the will of the people has no limitations.

 

[n2sooners]

I think constitutional republic is more accurate. We do democratically elect some officials. We don't directly elect the president and were never intended to elect senators (they are supposed to represent the interest of the state, not the people). And we don't elect most judges. We do elect our representatives and now our senators. But we don't get a vote on every piece of legislation and every public official like we would in a democracy.

 

[ez bake]

I think constitutional republic is more accurate. We do democratically elect some officials. We don't directly elect the president and were never intended to elect senators (they are supposed to represent the interest of the state, not the people). And we don't elect most judges. We do elect our representatives and now our senators. But we don't get a vote on every piece of legislation and every public official like we would in a democracy.

Sure - whatever helps you sleep at night

Democracy isn't a dirty word, man. That's really my only point - you can actually have an understanding of the Democratic system and how it exists and is used in our limited government and not be an evil sonofab$%@#. Sure there are people who don't comprehend what true Democracy does to an unlimited government at the will of idiot citizens, but that doesn't make it an entirely bad concept (whose name we don't speak).

Confront your fears man - say it with me... "Democracy!". See? Only a few puppies died that time.