Image: Flickr/Fred Benenson
Advertisement
Lawrence Lessig. Image: Wikimedia Commons/Ed Schipul
Advertisement
Campaign finance reform has been a recurring issue for decades, but every attempt by Congress to reduce the influence of money on American politics has fallen short. The most recent blow to campaign finance reform came in April when the Supreme Court struck down a decades-old limit on the total amount an individual can contribute to federal candidates in any two-year election cycle. That ruling, in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, followed the High Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which ruled that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited amounts on political campaigns.Lessig argues that the vast flood of money gushing into elections has corrupted the system by making politicians beholden to large financial contributors, rather than their constituents or the nation as a whole. The problem isn’t suitcase-full-of-cash acts of blatant bribery, which are increasingly rare, but rather an addiction to raising money. Some politicians spend up to 70 percent of their work time trolling for cash, because nowadays that’s the only way to win.Lessig and his allies are pursuing a grassroots approach. And they’re appealing for support across the political spectrum with a compelling argument. Money has so gummed up the system, Lessig says, that no real reform is possible on any issue, left or right, until campaign finance reform is achieved. Nearly two-thirds of Americans cite “government ethics and corruption” as a “very important” issue, according to a recent Rasmussen poll, ahead of taxes and national security.It's an extremely ambitious goal, but however improbable the odds, Lessig refuses to give up hope. "Hope is the one thing that we, as Aaron's friends, failed him with, because we let him lose that sense of hope," Lessig said during a recent TED talk. "I loved that boy like I love my son, but we failed him. I love my country, and I'm not going to fail that. We're going to fight this battle, however impossible it looks.""We're going to use big money to defeat big money."