Bill Clinton: ‘Ridiculous’ That Free Speech ‘the Same For a Billionaire As It Is For a Minimum-Wage Worker’

Former President Bill Clinton argued “it’s ridiculous that the freedom of speech is the same for a billionaire as it is for a minimum-wage worker” and it’s “not right” to say “the rich and poor are equally free to spend $1 billion on a secret committee on an election” on Tuesday’s broadcast of CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

Clinton said, “You know, Hillary wants to limit these…committees, like you set up four years ago. Yours was a joke, but I mean, the idea that we can have all these anonymous donors spend all this money on elections…we need to do something about that. Even if we have to try to amend the Constitution. I mean, it’s ridiculous that the freedom of speech is the same for a billionaire as it is for a minimum-wage worker. That’s like, the great French writer Victor Hugo once said he lived in a country where the rich and poor were equally free to sleep under the bridge at night, and that’s like saying the rich and poor are equally free to spend $1 billion on a secret committee on an election. That’s not right.”

(h/t Andrew Johnson)

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