Republic, Lost | Lawrence Lessig | Talks at Google
Why Hacker News recommends it
A perennial HN recommendation whenever lobbying, SOPA, taxes or political corruption come up, with several commenters saying it changed their views.
What it is
Lawrence Lessig's Talks at Google presentation based on his book Republic, Lost, arguing that money in politics corrupts Congress and eroded public trust, and outlining what could be done about it. It supports the argument with data on political donations.
Recommended by 10 HN commenters across 11 different months, 2011 to 2017.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec Dn_Ab · 2012-01 · on “The next SOPA”
> This idea that the root cause of all bad legislation is political donations: it's wrong, and not supported by the data. The vast majority of political donations are made by people who are not lobbyists. You make a very bold statement without backing it with any line of reasoning or pointing to any supporting material. I am no expert in this matter so I can not know if you are wrong. But in an older thread someone posted this excellent talk by Lawrence Lessig: [this video] . It's well worth watching and counters your statement. His arguments are very well presented and reasoned. He also shows some supporting data. Given that, I cannot attribute much weight to your statement.
Strong rec nextparadigms · 2012-03 · on “Lawrence Lessig's New Book: One Way Forward”
I haven't read his previous book, "Republic, Lost", but I saw the 1 hour speech at Google from last year, that was based on it, and it was great. He explains how the Government ended up having a relationship with corporations instead of "the people", and what is needed to solve this (almost unsolvable) problem. [this video]
Strong rec spoiledtechie · 2012-03 · on “The new Comcast Xbox Xfinity app is the first nail in net neutrality’s coffin”
If your really interested in doing something about it, I would suggest taking a look at [LINK] And without a second lost, watch this: [this video] That video has changed my point of view on the entire subject and has allowed me to start striking at the root.
Strong rec spoiledtechie · 2012-11 · on “512 Paths to the White House”
Actually, They are right. I really think you should take the time to watch this video, understand it, let it sink in and totally mold your brain around it. [this video]
Recommends webfuel · 2011-12 · on “An email I received from Jimmy Wales regarding SOPA”
I think you'll enjoy Lawrence Lessig's talk about the exact issue you brought up. It's call Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress—and a Plan to Stop It [Link] [this video]
Recommends necolas · 2012-01 · on “Maddox - I hope SOPA passes”
You might find Lawrence Lessig's talk at Google interesting: How Money Corrupts Congress—and a Plan to Stop It [this video] However, the article suggests that if some terrible legislation passed it would ignite people into real action. That clearly failed to happen when the Patriot Act was passed. I'm sure there are many more examples. If the discourse surrounding legislation convinces enough people not to care (or fails to make it into wider public awareness), then there doesn't seem to be much standing in its way.
Recommends scott_s · 2012-01 · on “Show HN: I'm tired of corrupt US politicians, so I created this”
I'm going to crib from my own post from two days ago: Donations don't literally buy votes, but what they do literally buy is face time. That is, people in Congress will hold fundraisers, and lobbyists pay to attend those fundraisers. The understanding is that the lobbyists who attend those fundraisers will have time to talk to the politician about the issues their clients care about. This episode of Planet Money clearly demonstrates this: [LINK] Edit: I remove the SOPA specific stuff, and didn't realize that in doing so, I removed the punchline. The implication of the above is that politicians' agenda becomes set by those who have the money to pay lobbyists. When you spend a lot of time talk
Recommends rogerbinns · 2012-04 · on “Shouldn't Robots Be Doing My Taxes By Now?”
If I was ever elected president, I would direct congress to reduce the size of the tax code by 10% each year. If they fail to do so then 10% are automatically eliminated - eg all those whose last digit of the article number is 3. The real reason for why things are so screwed up is corrupt politicians who use their power as a fund raising mechanism. For example there were several taxes added temporarily to see if they worked well. They did, but congress doesn't make them permanent. Instead they wait to be paid each time to renew them temporarily again. (This started in the Reagan administration.) See this excellent talk by Lessig: [this video] The whole tax provisions as fund raising is covered at