Can We Recover the Republic?

I wrote an article in May, Read Any  Good Books Lately, where I talked about a book by Lawrence Lessig titled One Way Forward: The Outsider’s Guide to Fixing the Republic. It is one of the best political books I have read. What I think is excellent is the Lessig moves beyond political partisanship to areas where the 99%, from the Tea Party to the MoveOn organization should be able to unite and work together for a common cause, or has he puts it, against a common enemy.

In that article we noted that 30-70% (likely the higher) of politicians time or thereabouts are working for election or re-election – so we don’t get a very good bang for our buck in terms of our elected public servants. In that process congressional leaders search out and are sought out by big money interests and become indebted to them thus leaving serving special interests rather than the public good. This is far from what the republic is about. It leaves us with a plutocracy, which caters to the upper 1%. Citizens United (80% of us opposed this decision across party lines) and Super PACs now dominate the political scene to the detriment of the common citizen.

All parts of the political spectrum ought to be able to understand government gone awry and unite in fighting against it while maintaining their personal beliefs and ideologies and continue to work for them.

Lessig also creates solutions to deal with these problems, which seem to me sensible and creative. First, public elections should be publicly funded. He gives an example a system where we get “democracy vouchers” to citizens of say $50 which in tern they can use to support the campaigns of the candidates they choose. He would also allow contributions from citizens up to $100 per election. This simple solution would generate up to $7 billion dollars, which is more than triple the dollars raised for the 2010 congressional elections. Note this encourages voter participation in the campaign. Lessig would not ban “independent expenditures by individuals or corporations but limit them to $100. Goodbye super PACs.

Lessig recommends a number of groups working on such plans such as MovetoAmend.org and GetMoneyOut.org that promote these ideas. He also mentions the Coffee Party, which originally was a response to the Tea Party but has since expanded its vision to overall reform. Lessig makes a great comment about Citizens United and democracy: “Citizens United may have shot it again, but the body was already cold.”

Lessig calls for congress to become engaged in these reforms and proposes a pledge for them to make: “I hereby pledge to do whatever it takes to end the corrupting influence of money in our government.” This is followed by three principles: 1) to provide the public elections are publicly funded; 2) To limit, and make transparent, contributions and independent political expenditures; and 3) To reaffirm that when the Declaration of Independence spoke of entities “endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” it was speaking of natural persons only.  One can go to TheAntiCorruptionPledge.org for citizens and congressional leaders to make this pledge. You can also go to the site to see if our congressional representatives have made such a pledge.

Presidents also need to take the lead in such a reform movement, as did FDR, Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan. Obama needs to follow in their footsteps as his actions do not seem to have kept up with his campaign rhetoric. I see Obama’s genius in involving the common folk in raising money for his campaign and needs to do the same in making needed changes to our electoral system. He also seems to be caught between a rock and a hard place with intractable congressional leaders.

Lessig suggests an Internet-based process where citizens become delegates to the American Elect Convention. There is such an organization developed in May of 2011 by Peter and Eliot Ackeerman, which Lessig saw as emphasizing our polarization too much and relied upon moderates. He now sees them moving beyond this to real reform of the election system. Now he encourages us to join AmericanElect.org and become delegates. You can maintain your political affiliations but you gain voice in the process of selection.

Lessign also believes we need Constitutional change as seen in the Grant and Franklin Project; or the constitution needs an amendment, which can be accomplished two ways, the only one has ever been used. Typically amendments come when 2/3rds of congress propose an amendment and then 3/4ths of the states much ratify it. The other method is for 2/3rds of states to call Congress to “call a Convention for proposing Amendment.” Wow. The founders saw this, as a viable way for citizens forcing change and it’s right there in Article V of our constitution. There is an organization for this as well: CallAConvention.org. You can sign up.

Inertia, lack of concern, or the belief that we really can’t do anything about our governmental situations holds many voters from getting involved. Plus they just are not well educated in the process. Lessig’s ideas would help educate and motivate if his ideas gain a large enough forum. People don’t care, but they need to.

I felt moved by this book to include a large article for this blog and to send to family and friends for their consideration. I hope that you will read it, evaluate, check sources and then get involved in some manner beyond general politicking.

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I am attaching Lessig’s proposed 28^th Amendment here.

1.     For the purpose of securing the independence of the legislative and executive branches, Congress shall: 

(1) fund federal elections publicly, at no less than the equivalent of the total amount spent in the election cycle when this article is ratified; 

(2) limit any non-anonymized contributions to candidates for federal office to the equivalent of $100;

(3) have the power to limit, but not to ban, independent political expenditures within 90 days of an election, including, but not limited to, expenditures in support of, or in opposition to, a candidate for federal office.

2.     The First Amendment shall not be construed to limit legislation enacted pursuant to this article, save to assure content and viewpoint neutrality. Neither shall the First Amendment be construed to limit the equivalent power of state or local legislation enacted to regulate elections of state or local officers. Nor shall the First Amendment be construed to vest in any non-natural person any unalienable constitutional rights. 

3.     Congress shall by law establish an agency for federal elections which shall enforce the provisions of this article, and whose principal officers shall be non-partisan commissioners who have served at least 10 years as a federal judge. The agency shall have standing to enforce the provisions of this article judicially in the federal courts, and the judicial power shall be construed to extend to actions by the agency against Congress.

4.     The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.