Lessig

Until the rise of super-PACs, the system favored the incumbents. Now the incumbents work for the super-PACs. It is a demeaning and demoralizing life for people who like to think highly of themselves and the institution they serve.

I cannot say that my earlier suggestions for a pro-democracy constitutional amendment have ignited a firestorm of grassroots activity. They have, how...

I believe that corruption hurts both the (populist) Left and the (populist) Right. And because I believe it hurts both of us populists, I believe there is a reason to try to engage with people I otherwise disagree with.

We can't afford to simply indulge the passion of our differences. Not anymore. The challenges we face as a nation are just too great. It is time for us to practice a politics that doesn't fit the business model of Fox v. MSNBC.

There is no liberal, or libertarian, or conservative who should defend the corruption or our political system.

We must find a way to work with people we don't agree with to make this Republic work again. Yet as I walked through the Occupy Wall St. protest Wednesday, and asked people about such cross-partisanship, I was not encouraged.

What decent citizens and reformers like Howard Schultz need to do is to use their power to get Congress to end its addiction, by pushing for reforms that would make it possible for government to act sanely and independently of special interest funders.

As many of us believe that our nation has come to another moment of crisis in its capacity to govern, some of us believe we must begin to talk through whether fundamental reform through a convention will be required.

Buddy Roemer has announced that he is launching an exploratory committee to consider a run for the presidency. He has also announced a campaign different from the campaign of every other candidate. A president, Roemer says, "must be free to lead": free of commitments to anything save the principles he commits to. So Roemer's campaign will take no PAC money. It will take no more than $100 in contributions from any individual. And everyone who contributes anything regardless of how small will be disclosed. This should be emulated across the board.

It seems that just about every hundred years or so, the body politic we call America swells with fever as it fights off a democracy-destroying disease. That disease is "Special Interest Government".

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has been slapped around silly by commentator after commentator, decrying his anti-Lefty rage. But as I read the battle, it seems to miss a pretty fundamental point.

Pathetic and puny victories are defeats, not victories. And they are certainly not the sort of resolve that will convince anyone that "change" has come to Washington. Not even those who thought they were already convinced.

Richard Burr is one of the senators who voted against the Franken Amendment. He and other members of Congress have got to wake up to the fact that most Americans don't trust them.