Constitutional Crisis - Harvard Law Professor Larry Lessig

Harvard's Institute of Politics launched their winter events; Larry Lessig, professor at Harvard Law School, was the key note speaker. He gave a very compelling talk about our Constitution being in crisis, and proposed a solution to fix this.

He began by saying that Congress is corrupt. Only, it is not the politicians themselves that are corrupt, it is the system in which they work. People in Congress spend 30-70% of their time raising money for Congress itself or their campaigns. As a result of this they are dependent on funders, not the people (only .01% of the population give $10,000 or more for campaigners). So when they pass laws they have funders in mind, not the people. This system leads to three things:

1. Money buys results in Congress

2. People lose confidence in the institution (only 9% of the population has confidence in government)

3. Low trust leads to low participation

What is the solution? Citizen funded campaigns.

"Grant and Franklin Project"

In this system everyone gets $50 of tax money back as a democracy voucher. This voucher can than go towards their candidate of choice. The candidate can only get this money if they agree to use only these funds for their campaign. The absolute most money that can be put towards a candidate is $100. That way there will only be small money funding. Using this system, if something is going wrong in Congress, it is at least known it is not a result of money corruption.

This is a good start, but there is another issue that needs to be resolved.

There is a super pac dynamic. Shortly before election day an incumbent (someone who is already in Congress and is going for re-election) is almost ensured to win. Than a super pac of $1million is dropped on the opposing side's campaign. To protect themselves Congressmen/women have "super pac insurance." The premium they have to pay is acting a certain way; passing certain laws and voting down others. This ensure that money will be there when and if they need it.

Many people in Congress are concerned with setting up their lives after Congress, in which they will be able to benefit from this system and make a lot of money. As a result of this a new Bill would not easily be passed to change this system.

What is the solution? An Article 5 Constitutional Convention.

An Article 5 Constitutional Convention is different than a total Constitutional Convention where the Constitution can be thrown out and re-written. An Article 5 Constitutional Convention needs to be called by 34 states, and can only add amendments. Then 38 states need to ratify (support) any amendment that is made.

Proposed 28th Amendment:

"Congress shall have power to limit, but not ban, independent political expenditures within 90 days of an election"

This way politicians will not always be paying their "premium" and voting for big business interests. They will actually be able to vote in the interest of the people.

These proposed plans are very thought provoking, and they sound like sound solutions. The only question is, is it possible to actually get both Public Funding for Elections and a new Amendment? Is there enough support to set these plans in motion?