Republic Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress – and a Plan to Stop It

Lawrence Lessig has brought together a gathering of facts and analysis culminating in a concise and well reasoned view of the problems that plague our representative democracy.

But plague is maybe to light a descriptive for the infection that has infiltrated our Republic, that of the United States of America.

Cancer is a more accurate descriptive. We have allowed the cancer of money to eat away at the foundations that the Framers of our Country intended. One man, one vote.

My own opinion is that we have allowed the wool to be pulled over our eyes by our own lack of attention to this developing cancer. Further, it is my opinion that it is ‘we the people’, that need to engage in a way meaningful enough to return the power of our intended representative democracy ‘one man, one vote’ i.e. to the hands of the people, and as best we can, eliminate the influence of special interests that have their own ‘special interests’ at heart.

The message is clear though, as difficult or even impossible the challenge may seem, it is up to us, each as individuals, to return the power to the people, to restore and protect our Republic from the cancer that has clearly grown to such influence as to be palatable to the majority of everyday Americans.

Lessig goes further to suggest solutions that will help us on this path of recovery and admits the difficulty of the challenge. He further states that ‘we the people’ need, to not only be apart of this process, but that we need to be part of innovating and refining the solutions to ensure we are successful.

It is my opinion that not only are we, as responsible citizens, the core of the solution, but that we have a duty to protect that which we love, our country, our families, our friends… That means we must protect our nation, our economy and our future from enemies both foreign and domestic. That means we must stop the special interest influence of lobbyists that impose their will on the legislature, or we risk losing that which is most precious to us all, our home.