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Former President Carter speaking on Sept. 6, 2012. (photo: Juan Manuel Herrera/OAS via Flickr)

Jimmy Carter Slams Citizens United as Threat to Democracy

Carter hopes "Supreme Court will reverse that stupid ruling."

Common Dreams staff

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter issued scathing remarks on the impacts of Citizens United, slamming the "financial corruption" and "excessive influx of money" that is making the U.S. electoral process "one of the worst in the world."

Carter made the comments speaking at Conversations at The Carter Center, a town-hall style discussion event, Tuesday evening in Atlanta.

Referring to the 2010 Citizens United decision, Carter said he hopes the "Supreme Court will reverse that stupid ruling," the Associated Press reports him as saying.

"We have one of the worst election processes in the world right in the United States of America, and it's almost entirely because of the excessive influx of money," he said.

"You know how much I raised to run against Gerald Ford? Zero," Carter said. "You know how much I raised to run against Ronald Reagan? Zero. You know how much will be raised this year by all presidential, Senate and House campaigns? $6 billion. That's 6,000 millions."

Newser reports that Carter instead praised a publicly-financed elections currently used by other countries, and said the U.S. should follow suit.

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