Republic, Lost

How Money Corrupts Congress--and a Plan to Stop It

By: Lawrence Lessig

Narrated by: Lawrence Lessig

Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig investigates the most vexing problem in American democracy: how money corrupts our nation's politics, and the critical campaign to stop it.

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 theissues 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.

Critic reviews

Praise for REPUBLIC, LOST
As an academic, Lessig has the research chops to find the anecdotes that best fit the narrative case he's making, and to lay them out in wonderful detail. But his real gift is in the art of stringing them together into a story. That means that this book is as persuasive as it is enjoyable to read.—Alesh Houdek, The Atlantic

REPUBLIC, LOST is a powerful reminder that this problem goes deeper than poor legislative tactics or bad character. As progressives contemplate how best to pick up the pieces after recent setbacks, a robust agenda to change how business gets done in the capital needs to be part of the picture. This time, we'd better mean it.—Matthew Yglesias, The American Prospect

Praise for Lawrence Lessig
"Lawrence Lessig gets things changed not for the benefit of corporations but to unleash the creative potential of ordinary people in a digital age."
—The Guardian

"Lessig is one of those rare legal scholars with both a clear narrative voice and a fine eye for historical irony."
—The Washington Post

"A bright and spark-filed polemic... combining legal sophistication with a storyteller's knack."
—Wall Street Journal, on Free Culture

"A powerfully argued and important analysis... it is also surprisingly entertaining."
—The New York Times Book Review, on Free Culture

"Once dubbed a 'philosopher king of Internet law,' he writes with a unique mix of legal expertise, historic facts and cultural curiosity, citing everything from turn-of-the-century Congressional testimony to Wikipedia to contemporary best-sellers like Chris Anderson's The Long Tail. The result is a wealth of interesting examples and theories on how and why digital technology and copyright law can promote professional and amateur art."
—M.J. Stephey, Time Magazine

"More than anything, Lessig understands and often wrestles with a rather understated theory: common sense."
—Derek Bores, PopMatters

"As an initial matter, Lessigian thought is deeply critical in nature... Perhaps it is the luxury of academia, or his nature generally, but Lessig is not afraid to say (loudly) at times: This doesn't work! We need to change. He says it often, and people are listening."
—Russ Taylor, Federal Communications Law Journal

"No one is more skilled at making arcane legal and technological questions terrifyingly relevant to everyday life than Lessig."

—Sonia Katyal, Texas Law Review

WAKE UP AMERICA

Lawrence Lessig is a professor of law at Harvard Law School. In “Republic, Lost” Lessig crystallizes the reasons for American apathy about voting in general elections; i.e. the state of America’s current “moneyocracy” makes a vote hardly worth exercising. Wake up America.

Though one appreciates Lessig’s critical evaluation of the American election system, his ivory tower solutions only reinforce voter apathy. Like the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, Lessig’s book is mired in a fantasy. Neither the inchoate “Occupy” movement nor Lessig’s intellectual exercise can change the inborn cause of American inequality; i.e., pursuit of money, power, and prestige, the unchanging nature of humankind.

Rights inherent in the freedom of American capitalism reward greed and denigrate or ignore altruism. The burgeoning gap between rich and poor aggravates and insures an American aristocracy of wealth. As long as corporations continue to endorse executive pay at 50 to 500 times the income of average employees, money will continue to distort democratic policy. Lessig presents the idea of paying legislators higher salaries to blunt corruption. To suggest, which Lessig does, paying a million dollars a year to a congressman to mitigate undue influence by corporations will only raise the stakes for moneyed interest’s distortion of public policy; not to mention, increase the chasm between haves and have-nots.

Capitalism is not a perfect system and people like Lessig are important because they reveal those imperfections. Americans are frustrated with politicians and the current political environment. People like Lessig and Obama give reason for hope that change for the better will come; never fast enough but always incrementally forward.

A profoundly important book. A must read.

For anyone that is a lover of the American Republic, this is a must read book.

My only gripe: at times there are some weirdness in the sound production, but Lessig's reading is clear and persuasive.

Please Read this Book

Lessig does a fantastic job in this book of making the complex issues surrounding our broken campaign finance system understandable for the common person. I truly hope (yet am very doubtful) enough people read this book and educate themselves so we can push for real change. Otherwise our republic is doomed.

Required Listening

This book should be required reading (listening) for all Americans of all political persuasions. It is at the top of my list of nonfiction books read or listened to in 2011. Lessig's reading is passionate. His arguments and examples are convincing. You do not have to agree with every argument to be convinced of the basic conclusion of the book--that our government has been corrupted and stolen from the people by large corporate financial interests. Listen to the book and then join and become active in Rootstrikers or one of the several other organizations he lists.

This book should be required reading

What did you like about this audiobook?

The author not only explains what has gone wrong in the US government but how we got here and offers sensible (if long view) solution(s). Well written and engaging. Regardless of your political views if you care about our country you need to read this book. In fact it should be required in high school civics classes.