Republic, Lost

How Money Corrupts Congress - and a Plan to Stop It

By: Lawrence Lessig

Narrated by: Lawrence Lessig

Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

In an era of ballooning corporate campaign expenditures, unleashed by the Supreme Court in Citizens United, trust in our government is at an all time low. More than ever before, Americans believe that money buys results in Congress - and that our Republic has been lost.

Using examples that resonate as powerfully on the Right as on the Left, Republic, Lost not only makes clear how the economy of influence defeats the will of the people, but offers cogent strategies to correct our course - from a constitutional convention to a Regent Presidency.

A onetime friend of Barack Obama, Lessig, a professor of law at Harvard, is as critical of the president and the Democratic Party as he is of Republicans. Both have allowed the core institution of our democracy to become little more than a shill for the most powerful moneyed interests in our Republic.

America may be divided, argues Lessig, but we must recognize that corruption is our common enemy, and we must find a way to fight against it.

©2011 Lawrence Lessig (P)2011 Hachette Audio

America needs to have this discussion

Where does Republic, Lost rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is my first listen on Audible and only the 3rd audiobook I have listened to. The other two were novels. It is a pretty dry and tedious subject matter to make exciting to listen to but you could feel the passion the author had for the subject and that helped.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Republic, Lost?

The first two thirds of the book paint the rather bleak situation that America finds itself in and I was glad when he finally got to the later chapters on solutions and how to get there.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

He really took his time making a strong argument for the need to reform the system. But as a result those with a short attention span may find this book too long. I shorter version may be better for that audience.

If you could give Republic, Lost a new subtitle, what would it be?

Corruption exposed!

Corruption simplified

Lessig breaks down how money corrupts politicians and leads to legislation that does not benefit the public. His non-partisan approach gives an eye-opening look into corruption spanning across all political parties.

Lawrence Lessig is a rockstar!

Really interesting book, narrated by the author. It almost feels like what I imagine his lectures are like. He uses good examples and the material has cross-party appeal. Reagan and Obama credit where it is due, as speakers and communicators of powerful ideas, but Lessig holds them to account for their failings. He's particularly critical of Obama, whom he obviously likes personally and supported strongly at the outset of his time in office. Overall a really informative book full of ideas. I recommend it for anyone interested in how our current system slowed to stagnation and what citizens might do to get it moving again.

Great thinker. Interesting perspective.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

Fantastic research reflected in this book. Interesting insights. Helps you understand much of the dysfunction that exists in Washington. You may not agree with the book, but the discussion is very enlightening and the writing is very good.

A Must read for anyone who wants to know what is w

What made the experience of listening to Republic, Lost the most enjoyable?

Lessig explores the problems associated with campaing finances as they relate to the disfunction in our government. It is a wonderful non-partisan exploration of how the people lost control of our representative govenrment to the monied few. Listen, learn, and act.

Good analysis of our major problem.

Although this book is written by a conservative (his words) turned Obama liberal, I, as a Tea Party conservative/Libertarian found that I agree with almost all of it. I'll forgive that he played the Charlie Brown role and believed the campaign speeches that O gave, speeches that convinced him that this time Lucy wouldn't pull the ball away. (The Charlie/Lucy analogy is from the book).

It's odd that he spends one chapter trying to convince the reader that studies have found almost no link between lobby money and congressional votes - then he spends most of the remaining book giving myriad examples of how it does. I recommend this book to all my Tea Party friends.

He enumerates 4 plans to fix the problem - all of which he gives 2-15% chance of success. But these plans are thought provoking and engendered a couple of ideas in my mind. Maybe if we put our heads together, and tap the expertise of think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, we can make a difference. The think tanks know how to balance the budget. They just need groups like the Tea Party organizations to put the heat on congress.

We don't need to rewrite the constitution. We need to provide logical solutions and bring enough pressure to bear on our elected "servants" to get them to consider what's right for our grand kids' future, instead of what K street wants, for a change. We, the people, need to regain our voice in how this country is run. We'll never have the money that the K street lobbyists have, so we must resort to other tactics - All ideas are welcome.

The only part of the book that I found distracting: he was so PC that he always used the pronoun "she" when referring to hypothetical congressmen and senators, most of whom are male - even she for a hypothetical prez, all of whom have been male. Is that reverse sexism?

We need another constitutional convention soon!

Simple and precise unwinding of the complete breakdown of our election, congressional, lobbying and ethical systems and how broke they are. Sadly the constitutional convention is all that is left to correct our broken system.

WOW an amazing lesson in civics

We the people need this education and indeed the resultant call to action. Those who mistakenly think all is well in the land of the free and the home of the brave, need to read this book. Conservatives, liberals and everywhere in between can benefit enormously from the balanced and articulate shakedown of how our government goes about the business of governing...very scary. I plan to buy the book for ALL my friends and family.

Outstanding Book on Economics and Politics

Would you listen to Republic, Lost again? Why?

Yes. Does a great job identifying and explaining the current problems within our political system and the history of how we got here.

What about Lawrence Lessig’s performance did you like?

Spoken like a true professor.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No extreme reaction.

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.