Larry Lessig describes in The Nation a three-part response to the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United that will allow certain forms of corporate spending on electioneering previously prohibited. The decision overturned two of the court's prior decisions, which were not yet two decades old.
Lessig proposes publicly-financed elections; a 7-year ban on former members serving as lobbyists, and, in the wake of the Citizens United decision, a constitutional amendment that would give Congress the power to regulate campaign finance. These changes are needed, Lessig argues, because
The US Congress has become the Fundraising Congress. And it answers--as Republican and Democratic presidents alike have discovered--not to the People, and not even to the president, but increasingly to the relatively small mix of interests that fund the key races that determine which party will be in power.
This, unfortunately, is true. It is one reason why this organization is engaged in educating the public on new ways for more people to participate in political life. New forms of deliberative democracy, new means of funding elections through large numbers of small donor contributions, whatever it takes to restore integrity to American democracy.
Bill Corbett
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