The American political system has been foundationally weakened by a corrupt
campaign funding system, creating a dangerously unstable and inequitable design
that could destroy our republic — if we let it. In this provocative and
important book, Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig takes on the deep flaws in
our campaign finance system and lays out a plan for fixing it. Lessig describes
a place called Lesterland, a fictional land with a population of 311 million
people of whom the 144,000, or 0.05 percent, named Lester are the people really
in charge. It’s the United States, of course, and Lesters are the people who
fund the election. Lessig notes that just 132 Americans gave 60 percent of the
SuperPAC money spent in the election cycle. It’s these few, he says, who are our
Lesters, and our dependence on them is perverting the democracy of the country.
After all, if candidates have to spend 30 to 70 percent of their time trying to
raise funds to get back to Congress, which they do, might that not affect their
principles, their beliefs, their ideals, and what they’re prepared to fight for
on behalf of the people?
