Harvard Law's Lessig Says Smash Washington's Culture Of Money

Most attention-getting political corruption stories are small bore, like a Louisiana congressman stuffing $90,000 in bribes in his freezer or super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff wringing favors from members of Congress with a skybox and 18 holes at St. Andrews.

What’s striking is how little it costs for a private interest to subvert the public will.

The really big money is in campaign finance. Politicians are constantly dialing for dollars with the tacit understanding that the generous will be rewarded. One of the many charms of “Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress -- and a Plan to Stop It,” a new book from Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig, is its sympathy for the people involved.

“What if Washington is not filled with evil souls trying to steal from the republic?” Lessig writes, wondering if politicians are merely “good people working in a corrupted system.”

How intriguing to think that former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich isn’t a bad person. Who knows what deal I might make with the devil if every four years I needed to raise millions to keep my job?

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