ETech, an annual conference held by O’Reilly Publishing and fronted by the eponymous Tim O’Reilly. Having seen Tim speak and consistently be driven to purchase books that bear his surname - when this man talks I listen. When this man holds a conference, I feel both guilty and poor for not being able to go. This is especially true for ETech, which for many is O’Reilly’s personal rebuke response to TED.
Lawrence Lessig, another man for whom I have plenty of attention span, gave a speech at ETech regarding campaign financing. You can find coverage of his talk at Wired’s epicenter blog covering the conference.
In it, Lessig enunciated a message he has delivered via video on his blog some time earlier. His diagnosis of the core political problem in the United States is the supremacy of the almighty dollar in the political decision making process. The threat of losing precious campaign financing from large corporate interests prevents politicians from taking principled stances and treading into the unknown or unfamiliar debate.
While, sadly, he won’t be running for congress, Lessig declared that he aims to change congress by changing the valuation of options in the decision making process. Lessig aims to fuse democratic political support with funding - wherein public funding propels in the candidate through the campaign rather than private backing.
In a manner similar to the Creative Commons system he founded, Lessig aims to develop an organization aptly called “Change Congress.” It would aribtrate the use of specific campaign badges that candidates can use as examples of transparency to the electorate. Candidates can get a badge representing their commitment to not accept money from lobbyists or political action committees. Candidates can receive a second badge recognizing they refuse to allow congressional “earmarks” and a third badge by pledging to support public campaign financing.
Change Congress would potentially aid “citizen candidates” to contest front-runners who refuse to rely on public financing - potentially making it more expensive to not play.
Being clear to not paint congress as money-grubbing crooks and liars Lessig emphasized the systematic nature of the problem with this choice quote:
Congress is an encumbancy machine.
Lessig argues that the requirement of money to be a competitive candidate places political leaders in a place of fear, not principle - and fear of the wrong people, corporate leaders and campaign financeers not the plurality of Americans who cast their ballot. Money distorts the process.
I see no reason a future President Obama (or McCain) couldn’t support this, the very notion is giving them momentum.