Thom Hartmann interview former President Jimmy Carter last week and asked him about the current state of politics in America. Carter was direct in addressing that American politics have been a business of oligarchy.

HARTMANN: Our Supreme Court has now said, “Unlimited money in politics.” It seems 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.

Watch.