republic.lessig.orgRepublic, Lost V1 | campaign-finance | Lawrence Lessig

LESSIG home writing books articles essays testimony medium blog v.2 blog v.1 wiki media video audio pics about Bio CV Disclosure gigs contact facebook ? twitter instagram youtube flickr books articles essays testimony medium blog v.2 blog v.1 wiki LESSIG Republic, Lost v.1 From the publisher Twelve Books In an era when special interests funnel huge amounts of money into our government—driven by shifts in campaign-finance rules and brought to new levels by the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission—trust in our government has reached an all-time low. More than ever before, Americans believe that money buys results in Congress, and that business interests wield control over our legislature. With heartfelt urgency and a keen desire for righting wrongs, Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig takes a clear-eyed look at how we arrived at this crisis: how fundamentally good people, with good intentions, have allowed our democracy to be co-opted by outside interests, and how this exploitation has become entrenched in the system. Rejecting simple labels and reductive logic—and instead using examples that resonate as powerfully on the Right as on the Left—Lessig seeks out the root causes of our situation. He plumbs the issues of campaign financing and corporate lobbying, revealing the human faces and follies that have allowed corruption to take such a foothold in our system. He puts the issues in terms that nonwonks can understand, using real-world analogies and real human stories. And ultimately he calls for widespread mobilization and a new Constitutional Convention, presenting achievable solutions for regaining control of our corrupted—but redeemable—representational system. In this way, Lessig plots a roadmap for returning our republic to its intended greatness. While America may be divided, Lessig vividly champions the idea that we can succeed if we accept that corruption is our common enemy and that we must find a way to fight against it. In REPUBLIC, LOST, he not only makes this need palpable and clear—he gives us the practical and intellectual tools to do something about it. Table of Contents Contents Preface Introduction Part 1: The Nature of This Disease Good Souls, Corrupted. Good Questions, Raised 1 + 1 = Part 2: Tells Why Don’t We Have Free Markets? Why Don’t We Have Efficient Markets? Why Don’t We Have Successful Schools? Why Isn’t Our Financial System Safe? Where Were the Regulators?” What the Tells” Tell Us Part 3: Beyond Suspicion: Congress’s Corruption Why So Damn Much Money Demand for Campaign Cash Supply of Campaign Cash: Substance Supply of Campaign Cash: New Norms Supply of Campaign Cash: New Suppliers Economies, Gift and Otherwise What So Damn Much Money Does A Baseline of Independence Deviations from a Baseline It Matters Not at All Distraction Distortion Trust How So Damn Much Money Defeats the Left How So Damn Much Money Defeats the Right Making Government Small Simple Taxes Keeping Markets Efficient How So Little Money Makes Things Worse The Ways We Pay Congress The Benefits of Working for Members Two Conceptions of Corruption” Part 4: Solutions Reforms That Won’t The Incompleteness of Transparency The (Practical) Ineffectiveness of Anonymity Reforms That Would The Grant and Franklin Project Strategy 1: The Conventional Game Strategy 2: An Unconventional (Primary) Game Strategy 3: An Unconventional Presidential Game Strategy 4: The Convention Game Choosing Strategies Conclusion: Rich People Acknowledgments Appendix: What You Can Do, Now Notes Index Links & Resources INTRODUCTION Congress Ranks Last in Confidence in Institutions - cache http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/teddyrooseveltmuckrake.htm - cache http://www.econ.umd.edu/research/papers/38/download/238 CHAPTER 2: GOOD QUESTIONS, RAISED How far away from the North Pole is the Magnetic Pole (last visited Jan. 14, 2011 - cache http://http://stats.org/stories/2009/Sc ience%20Suppressed_%20America%27s%20Obsession%20with%20BPA_July9_09.pdf Flaws in the Case Against BPA - NYTimes.com - cache Spin the bottle (Harper’s Magazine) - cache Prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of beliefs regarding cancer risks - Stein - 2007 - Cancer - Wiley Online Library Study on cell phone link to cancer inconclusive - cache http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2011/pdfs/pr208_E.pdf Responsible Conduct Research : Conflicts of Interest - cache CAE: Michael McDonald, Ph.D. - cache Cambridge Journals Online - Fulltext - cache http://www.annals.org/content/153/3/158.full.pdf+html - cache Top 1000 sites - DoubleClick Ad Planner - cache www.lonelyplanet.biz/downloads/lonelyplanet_profile.pdf CHAPTER 4: WHY DON’T WE HAVE FREE MARKETS? CDC - 2007 National Diabetes Fact Sheet - Publications - Diabetes DDT - cache Obesity, Type 2 diabetes rates growing rapidly among children | Newsroom | Washington University in St. Louis - cache Obesity in America - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com - cache CMC, Charlotte - Reason for increase in number of children with type 2 ... - cache http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/overweight/overweight_adult.pdf - cache http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus09.pdf - cache The Facts About High Fructose Corn Syrup - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com - cache Archer Daniels Midland: A Case Study In Corporate Welfare - cache USDA ERS Briefing Room - Dairy: Policy - cache http://ncseonline.org/nle/crsreports/05jun/97-905.pdf U.S. Sets Shrimp Tariffs on Thailand, India, Ecuador, Brazil - Bloomberg - cache Why U.S. Taxpayers Are Paying Brazilian Cotton Growers : Planet Money : NPR - cache www.heritage.org/.../2002/.../agriculture-lobby-wins-big-in-new-farm-bill - cache President Announces Temporary Safeguards for Steel Industry - cache Counting the Cost of Steel Protection | Daniel Griswold | Cato Institute: Congressional Testimony - cache CHAPTER 4, 5 http://www.cato.org/pubs/tpa/tpa-011.pdf - cache http://s3.amazonaws.com/thf_media/2008/pdf/bg2134.pdf - cache The Sugar Industry: The Sugar Industry and Corporate Welfare - cache Downsizing the Federal Government - cache http://assets.panda.org/downloads/sugarandtheenvironment_fidq.pdf The Great Sugar Shaft - cache America’s Credibility Goes "Timber!" | Daniel J. Ikenson | Cato Institute: Free Trade Bulletin - cache United States Corn SubsidiesEWG Farm Subsidy Database - cache CHAPTER 4 Corn subsidies make unhealthy food choices the rational ones | Grist - cache http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/Pubs/rp/PB07-03FeedingAtTroughDec07.pdf Groups sue FDA to stop Big Ag antibiotic abuse—and it just might work | Grist - cache Op-Ed Contributor - Cows on Drugs - NYTimes.com - cache http://www.ncifap.org/bin/e/j/PCIFAPFin.pdf. The Burger That Shattered Her Life - The New York Times - cache Corn lobby’s tall tale of a gas substitute / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com - cache http://www.balancedfoodandfuel.org/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/9908 http://www.balancedfoodandfuel.org/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/10560 Home - NPP Federal Priorities Database - cache Sugar Cane & Sugar Beets: Long-Term Contribution Trends | OpenSecrets - cache http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/totals.php?ind=A01++&goButt2.x=14&goButt2.y=9&goButt2=Submit - cache CHAPTER 5: WHY DON’T WE HAVE EFFICIENT MARKETS? http://www.copyright.gov/title17/circ92.pdf ftp://ftp.eia.doe.gov/pub/oiaf/1605/cdrom/pdf/ggrpt/057308.pdf http://www.pewclimate.org/docUploads/Sequest_Final.pdf Future of "Clean Coal" Power Tied to (Uncertain) Success of Carbon Capture and Storage: Scientific American - cache http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/04/pdf/weiss_clean_coal.pdf http://www.catf.us/resources/publications/files/The_Toll_from_Coal.pdf CHAPTER 5, 11 Pro-Environment Groups Outmatched, Outspent in Battle Over Climate Change Legislation - OpenSecrets Blog | OpenSecrets - cache CHAPTER 6: WHY DON’T WE HAVE SUCCESSFUL SCHOOLS? World education rankings: which country does best at reading, maths and...