Jimmy Carter Calls For Return To Publicly Financed Elections

During an interview with fellow former president Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter issued harsh criticism against the current privately-funded election system and called to bring back publicly financed campaigns.

“Personally, I’d like to see public funds used for all elections — Congress, U.S. Senate, governor and president,” Carter said at the Clinton Global Initiative’s Atlanta meeting, reports the Washington Post.

Carter has publicly financed elections and suggested moving in that direction in response to the Supreme Court’s “stupid Citizen’s United decision” that allowed for some instances of unlimited campaign contributions.

“I think there’s going to be a reassessment in America by individual citizens and collectively after this election experience that we are involved in now,” Carter said while sitting next to Bill Clinton, whose wife, Hillary, is currently involved in what is expected to become the most expensive presidential election in American history, notes The Associated Press. “I think a lot of people feel not only alienated, but kind of disgusted, with some of the campaign rhetoric and the violation of human rights as a public proposal by major candidates. And that’s something that I think is going to be corrected in the United States.”

Carter attributed that the “radical nature” of recent political campaigns, both in the U.S. and elsewhere, to a widespread belief that the government is not treating its people fairly, combined with a common sentiment that children will be worse off than their parents.

The 91-year-old former president, one of the 15 superdelegates for Georgia, has not endorsed either Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, although he has said in the past that he will support the party’s nominee. He made a similar move during the 2008 primaries and did not endorse Clinton or then-Sen. Barack Obama until the end of the race.

President Clinton spent most of the interview questioning Carter and occasionally expanding on his answers.

“You got me answering all the question, but I don’t mind,” Carter said, prompting laughter from the audience.

Sources: The Associated Press via Philly.com, Washington Post / Photo credit: U.S. National Archives/Flickr