Change Congress

When there’s a long tradition for something and a lot of money behind keeping that tradition alive, it becomes very easy to say “that’s just how it is” and continue on your merry way. Change is hard, but you’ve got to start somewhere.

Larry Lessig wants to start some change. Specifically, he thinks that the current mode of operation in Congress is a little too beholden to business-backed lobbyists, and there’s evidence of that all over the place in the law books. Lessig hopes to change some of the fundamental dynamic in Washington in order to be able to start thinking about the bigger problems. Specifically, he wants to see members of Congress pledge to:

1. Not accept money from lobbyists/PACs
2. Ban earmarks in spending bills
3. Support public financing of campaigns

He plans to put a bunch of energy into this Change Congress initiative to try to make this happen. As part of this, he’s considering a run for Congress in his own district.

I think it’s a worthwhile effort, and I want to support Larry by linking to him here: Lessig ’08. If you want a better intro to Change Congress, check out the first few minutes of the video on the front page of Larry’s site.