Lessig on reclaiming the Republic

Great, impassioned, supremely lucid lecture. His book — Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress – and a Plan to Stop It is terrific also.

The title of the book picks up on a famous story about the Constitutional Convention of 1787 which gave birth to the United States. At the close of the Convention a lady asked Benjamin Franklin “Well Doctor what have we got, a republic or a monarchy.” Franklin replied, “A republic . . . if you can keep it.” Larry’s point is that the citizens of the new republic couldn’t keep it, and the reason they lost it was because the intrusion into electoral politics eventually became pathological.