Lawrence Lessig s'attaque à la corruption...
What is so undemocratic about special interests? Aren’t special interests usually groups of citizens who care about an issue?
– Matthew Moran
Nothing is undemocratic about special interests. The undemocratic and corrupting part is when members of Congress become so dependent upon raising money that their attention gets focused upon not what their district wants, but on what those who would fund their campaign want. And of course, that’s not all special interests. It is the subset of special interests who have the capacity to leverage their support into significant campaign funding.
This is, in my view, corruption. And it only gets worse when you recognize that it is affecting not just members of Congress. Just about everyone in Washington today depends upon keeping the system as it is. Staffers on Capitol Hill move increasingly quickly to take jobs in lobbyist firms. Members and bureaucrats do the very same thing. The result is that most with any power in government are keen not to disappoint the lobbyists who come to call upon them. For the lobbyists who plead with them today will become their bosses tomorrow.
