We the People, and the Republic we must reclaim | Lawrence Lessig 

17:28 "A Republic Madame, If you can keep it." Benjamin Franklin- A real American American Leader.

I've shared this before and I will keep sharing it. I'm a little disturbed that it doesn't have nearly as many views as some of these other silly videos out there. #Seriously Lawrence Lessig nails it and people need to know it. This system is corrupt by the very definition of corrupt. We need to change the way we do this. #RootHackers

I've known for years that we have a corrupt system in this country of ours, and now I finally understand who's getting the money, and why some of us still love this country so much, how it's all one humongous misunderstanding. Like he said so very well, we all must act as citizens to bring this country, our home, back to the way it was originally conceived by our founding fathers. Overall, excellent presentation Prof. Lessig. Thank you. :)

I'm a Bernie Sanders Supporter, but I wholeheartedly agree with what Lawrence said here. I totally get why Lawrence is running, because simply endorsing Bernie isn't going to catch steam, but he's running his own one-issue platform to get the entirety of the Democratic party (or even just Bernie) to push more for Campaign Finance Reform and Income/Political inequality. An endorsement won't do it, he needs to get up on one of the debates and push his case. Eventually he'll drop out (I don't believe anyone will elect a one-issue candidate), but it's one of the most (if not the most) pressing issue of the decade and our generation, and I'm all for his campaign, even though I feel at the end of the day, Bernie will not only be the best comprehensive Presidential candidate on the Democratic side, but Bernie will push hard as best as he can for the Act that Lawrence is pushing for. #feelthebern

I love the passion and emotion in his voice

God Bless America! Great and important speech. Hope you, the people of the USA will get your republic back. It can not be that (more less) 132 people finance the elections (buy it....). If you loose representative democracy too, like the EU already is and will be continue to do.... where will be democracy left....?? Switzerland is too little to stand alone....

Joe Rogan sent me here

Citing the perils of American fundraising nature of politics, Lawrence Lessig gives an impressive talk against this ever-pervasive corruption. A need of the hour talk not only to America but to the entire world. A good and meaningful talk.

I'm not even American, but I can still tell he's speaking the truth. I found this video after reading the news today on the massive phone tapping that's been going on. When you get to choose between Democrat and Republican, I don't think you have much of a choice at all. It's a shame. From what I've read, America used to be a great country.

The only way to fix the problem, is for the people to get more proactively involved. The citizens only have themselves to blame, and every individual needs to take responsibility for their lack of involvement. Even worse, most individuals need to take responsibility for falling for misinformation. Being involved means being better educated about the truth and reality. That is a huge part of what this video is about, and hopefully it makes more people try to learn more.

This was so moving and emotionally engaging to hear his straight-forward approach to a motivating factor that drives our country into the ground but hearing him end his speech with the love of turning corruption around was fantastic, definitely a wake up call I heard loud and clear.

This is one of the greatest videos I've ever seen in RU-vid! And now we are talkin' about a videos,which actually have true meaning to them & can actually make a real difference in the world. Excellent video!

DO NOT STOP GIVING THIS SPEECH PLEASE SIR - OUR COUNTRY CRIES OUT FOR IT! -A concerned 39 year old veteran...

It seems to me we would all Benefit Greatly, just by sharing this Powerful Story, just through our own contacts and social Networks.Learn to be able to discuss and communicate the issues intelligently,realizing and understanding the ramifications to our if we don't......"CHANGE THIS NOW "

A good man to admire. Great information and knowledge. Thanks for sharing.

At present, 4,429 thumbs up, 90 thumbs down. This is out of balance based on the subject matter. There should only be two thumbs down, a proper representation of the 0.05% of relevant funders. I guess even here at RU-vid, people vote against their own best interests.

Lessig for Supreme Court!

one of the best TED talks i've ever heard, and one of, if not THE, most necessary to hear. Although I'm all for the idea of this kind of Republic, I can't help but think of Plato's Republic... (in which the rulers lie to the people, perform eugenics, and don't act at all in line with what i think is right)

This is partly correct with the problem being more fundamental. Essentially, our Representative form of government was gamed by insiders in the early 1900s when our representative form of government was fundamentally changed allowing the floodgates to open for lobbying and funding. Prior to 1911, the size of the House of Representatives increased in size every ten years based upon the results of the census. The census wasn't created to simply fight over the divvying up of a fixed number of congressional seats but rather, in order to calculate how many seats would need to be added in order to continue being representative. Congress fixed the size of the House at 435 rather than allowing it to continue growing in size as it had for the prior 120 years. The Constitution states that there should be one Representative per 30,000 citizens. In 1911, there were 117,000 citizens per representative. Now it exceeds 1,000,000 in certain districts. By fixing the size of the congress, they systematically made it easier for lobbyists and funding to thwart democracy by making it more efficient to gain power with lobbying or funding since they only need to get to 218 House Members and 50-60 Senators. Congressmen have essentially become "mini-Senators". The 2nd thing that was done was allowing Senators to be subject to a popular vote within their State instead of being appointed by their Governor and approved by the State legislature. By subjecting Senators to a popular vote, every Senate seat has become a national election with money coming from all over the county rather than from the power of the State. Once a Senator gains election, they only represent the State in name while swearing their allegiance to the central commands of the party.

I used this video to teach my 6 year old about the "new" democracy here since it is so simple minded. If anyone on here did not already know this to be fact then you really really need to catch up.

This guy was the greatest presidential candidate but he had a pretty rough week. He was locked out of debates, he was ignored by everybody, and was almost kicked out of candidacy. i wanted him to at least be allowed in debates when i am old anough to run i want to carry his dream to the extreme point and show that anyone can be equal and attack untill the end

BEST TED talk I've seen. We have lost our Republic. Scary to hear it, few are saying it. Few face the truth. We have to put it out there what is actually so.

1. Term limits all around. 2. No salary; per diem only while in session. 3. Limits on size of staffs. 4. Restrict lobbying, irrespective of cause or assets. Put all ‘lobbying’ activity in the public domain for comment and discussion.

As hopeless as it seems, We the people must regain our republic!

I love the point that the odds are irrelevant, that it is love that motivates. Also interesting how he prioritizes this reclamation of the republic, that no other real reform can happen until we pull the plug on lester land. Amazing speaker.

Not only the best presentation of the case for appropriate self-representation as the basic elements of the general context of self-governing systems, ( no one reads all or any law books before making personl decisions that affect others), this is the proof that you can find a good Lawyer to argue your case.

That is a valid point in that the choices of our parents and some others are variables in where we are. But they are weighted less than the choices we make. There are countless stories of people who achieve far more than their parents or communities did. And the distinction between safety net and redistribution is not pointless. Yes, we have a shared society, but I ask again, where is the line between those two and what we do share? It is a key distinction.

Eureka! You say and in that one moment understanding lifts you above the crowd. So many indicators of waste, fraud, abuse are of a single cause. So many labors reduced to a single issue. You now are obligated to tell others, donate to a campaign, vote!

thanks for your positive reply. many people would quickly dismiss such talk about a better world as unrealistic preach. but even when this "better world" will not become reality in our lifetimes, not in our children lifetime and not in our grand-children lifetime, I believe we can still do something to move a meaningful step towards that reality. therefore I don't think that it can be too early to share such thoughts. :)

Lets share and like this video, on social media and any other forums. This is important, i hope teachers across the states watch this and show it to their classes. The world cannot afford to let this go on, yes you americans affect the entire globe.

MayOne is only $1000 away from hitting it's 1 million goal, with 18 days left in the campaign. Professor Lessig hits the nail on the head with this talk. It certainly *is* of the absolute utmost importance for reform to go through our government and the money greasing the wheels to take a vastly downgraded role.

One of the best TED-talk I ever heard! Kudos!

Indeed ! Every great idea was first labelled as unrealistic, naive, stupid... Almost all of them have an aspect of foolishness. We should always be open and ready to discuss such matters, not argue on them. I think my first comment seemed too agressive, I apologize for that. I am really glad we are on the same wavelength. Take care friend :)

Brilliant L.L. as usual, but he missed a very essential point when he listed several initiatives as solving this issue as being a plus. It certainly is a plus that there are those out there who DO see the problem and are working to solve it. But it is a BIG minus that they are not united in their efforts.

Life experience is the PRIMARY factor in the decisions we make. It is exactly the point that one's success, or lack of, is directly related to "chance". Those with more positive intervening circumstance have a better "chance" of making a better decision. Two people given similar circumstance still do not have the same circumstance. Decisions will diverge. The decisions you make are a product of your life. This is not a hypothesis. This is the well understood result of cause and effect.

Wow, what a great speech that every American needs to hear. Share this video if you can because he is right, we have lost the Republic.

Agreed. All buildings should be equipped with solar paneling with wind and wave power to back them. This would be an expensive task, but one we could do with proper allocation of funding and locally organized events. We seriously need to shift towards environmental concerns as quickly as possible even at the expense of capital gains. We could probably regain the trust of other countries we have spited in the past simply by restoring the representative republic in the US.

I am an engineer by trade. Oversimplifications are a product of 500 character limits on RU-vid, not expertise. Batteries are not the limiting agent of development and they are working as well as they need to for the demands we place on them. You can use your cell phone like a laptop for several hours, and the only need you would have to make the battery last longer is if you are without an outlet or USB port to plug into if you need to go longer. In this world, that's not generally an issue.

I subscribe to the belief that the best way to solve our problems is to innovate our way out of them. Furthermore it is my belief that legal action only serves as a band-aid solution to problems when no technical solution is immediately realized. Thus understanding that the underlying issue is the money influence within our political system, especially in the realm of campaign finance, my question then becomes what types of technical solutions can create the conditions under which money and its influence over our politicians is no longer relevant? To answer that question I am first inclined to ask another. In the age of information, where we have immediate access to all forms of media ranging from the written word to video representations, and where we have the proportionate ability to immediately distribute those same forms of media just as readily; All for little more than the price of a computer and a video camera. Why is it that the election process, In the hitherto mentioned age of information, requires so much money in the first place? Why is it so expensive to run a campaign? I find this question strikingly hard to answer. I can understand the cost associated with travel, of booking a venue and of buying a few billboards. But all these things seem to me to add up to a total that dwarfs in comparison to the amount of money these candidates accept in campaign contributions. There seems to be some fundamental disconnect, the campaign system is incredibly inefficient, and appears to be corrupting by its very nature. So then the question becomes, how can we implement recent advents of technology into the election process that would dramatically cut the cost of running for office? My answer: Create an open platform (.gov website) for candidates running for office to obtain campaign finance directly from the electorate. Candidates would post their political platform, their credentials, their past voting records, basically all information relevant for the public to make an informed decision. But here in my view is the interesting bit, every dollar contributed through this website can be tracked and represented in some sort of mathematical diagram and compared to the total amount received by the candidate for his/her campaign. If such a system were in place and were socially recognized as the authority in matters relating to a campaign, we would be able to see what groups have financed each politician. you would be able to see some thing like, this politician has received (x) amount of campaign dollars by undisclosed sources and (y) amount of campaign dollars by disclosed sources. From this you would be able to figure out what percentage of the total amount received comes from sources that are open about their motivations, which in essence would be a measure of how much you can trust a specific politician. The beauty in a solution like this is that it requires no reform on a legislative level. All that is required is a consensus be reached by the people to value openness and honesty in our political leaders. It seems to me that such a website if widely adopted by the public would create a platform that enables a politician to voice their ideas and explain their proposed policies for nearly no money at all, effectively restricting the influence money has over campaigns in the first place. ......................................................... I would greatly appreciate any feedback.

It also has less need for those resources, as localized cost management is more efficient. The federal response to Katrina is a good illustration of that. The federal government, by the time it did get around to funding the effort, was throwing so much money at the problem that contractors getting federal funds were pocketing half and contracting the work to others, who in turn pocketed more and hired their own contractors. By the time it got to real workers, most of the money was gone.

This is easily one of the most well spoken talks I've ever seen on the real structure of how things work in our government and how officials get elected and how they become for the few, rather than the many after they are elected. There's no tin foil hat conspiracy theory idiot garbage here. There's no right wing or left wing, just the truth and a passion to turn things around and make our country "for the people, by the people" again, like it started, and needs to be again. Bravo!

Lessig is a fantastic speaker. The last part is very emotional.

The absence of government would be the absence of rulers; so nobody would rule. Its simply sovereign human beings being allowed to make decisions without the violence of the state. Authoritarian rule has been a disastrous failure for thousands of years, it might be about time we try something else.

Excellent. One point he did not make, though, was that THIS is why the Conservatives wanted to and changed the Constitution to say that corporations are people.

I never said this was impossible. I think my comment made you think this way. What I wanted to point out is similar to what you said, we are not yet ready for such a change. If you want to get rid of the authority, you have to make sure that everyone will be responsible enough to act for the best of society. Who will stop thieves or rapers when there is no more organized law enforcement force ? I want a better world just like you. Thank you for your opinion !

What pisses me off is that all those people at the conference will applaud and act like they care, but once they go home they'll let the corruption continue. How could they not? Changing anything would most likely lighten their pocketbook.

I don't live in America, but I do believe my democratic Norway is experiencing this anyway., in a less degree. Great talk!

You just proved my point: "Those with more positive intervening circumstance have a better 'chance' of making a better decision." That is a probabilistic circumstance. But ultimately they have to make that decision which is a conscious act. No one forced me to go to college or grad school. Perhaps I had an environment that encouraged that. But ultimately, I had to make the decision, given that background, to go those routes and then to apply myself and work hard while there. (cont.)

Yes there are. His book has the details and the short ebook supplement to this talk, over at the TED web page version, give concrete examples. He mentions three separate plans in this talk alone. But not the details, which would have bogged down the time limit of a TED talk.

It has been 8 years. He has been proven right 8x over.

"[Getting money out of politics is] the issue we have to solve before we get to fix the issues you care about" So true.

WOW! Amazingly beautiful said. Truth but nothing the truth... This is a written chapter of a book i'm working on! But I could never say it so beautifully.

Just because your local government doesn't deal in billions doesn't make it any less corrupt, just poorer in resources to rip off. The fact that it's cheap to bribe highlights those limited resources. And the fact that it's limited also means that everybody involved is living out of each other's pockets. There's always a brother or sister in law who needs a helping hand, not to mention closer relations and friends.

Lessig is on the right track.

I suggest you check your local incumbency rates compared to the federal statistics. I live in a town of about 50,000 people, and am on a first name basis with the mayor and most of the city council. There's a bit of a waiting list at the moment, but even the state governor takes appointments from "ordinary" citizens. Even that waiting list is shorter than the hoops you have to jump through to get a chance just to have your picture taken with the President at a "public" event.

If only "we have the best government money can buy' was a true statement. 535 people sit in Washington and guide our government into massive debt and yet our schools, health care and infrastructure are seriously deficient. We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid. Benjamin Franklin

Thank you, TED and Lawrence Lessig, for shining light on the elephant in the room of American politics.

LL, you are freaking brilliant. We must to this. This is issue #1. Thank you.

"Perhaps I had an environment that encouraged that. But ultimately, I had to make the decision" Yes, YOU had to make that decision. But, had your previous experiences varied, your decision could have been different. Your decisions - you - are a culmination of your life experience. This does not excuse one for the decisions they make, but it should encourage us as a society to help those that are more likely to make the wrong ones.

7 years later and the problem is worse than ever and is destroying and dividing us.

Signed and shared... Will you pick up where Lessig left off, and help Rootstrikers build the movement needed to reclaim our Republic?

"Others' help" is key to what allows you to make the decisions necessary to change your life in a positive way. We, and our decisions, are products of our surroundings. You cannot separate the two. Outside influence is required to change one's surrounding, and as a result, influence one's decisions. I suggest you try living the life of those on assistance before demoralizing those that receive it. Not "what you would do in their shoes", but "who you would be given their life experience".

“For us to maintain our way of living, we must tell lies to each other and especially to ourselves. The lies are necessary because, without them, many deplorable acts would become impossibilities.”

Every decision you make is based off your life experience. Not everyone is given the same opportunities. Steve Jobs was fortunate enough to be given the opportunities he had. And, he happens to be a perfect example for my point: Had Atari, his employer at the time, fired him instead of moving him to the night shift because of his personal hygiene issues, he likely never would have been in the position to meet the people he did, leading to the Apple computer.

Lessig clearly understands a republic as a "Representative Democracy." The people elect representatives vs. a democracy in which everyone votes on every issue. The Senate originally was not like the House. The senators were to be selected by each state to represent that state's rights in the national government. Originally only taxpayers (property owners) could vote for members of the House. And only the House could initiate the spending of those taxpayers' money. Amendments have destroyed this.

Also i didn't mean we actually couldn't provide services but rather having a corporation handle them is an awful idea because not everyone makes the same amount of money(which would be worse without government) so the fire"company" would have no obligation to give the people on the basic package the same level of protection as the people on the premium package (as they shouldn't having their main goal being money), but with government every one gets equal protection.

This is simply a moral argument about eliminating the initiation of force. Ultimately its a change that will have to happen on an individual level. Whatever comes out of that, its hard to say. When people made the moral argument to abolish slavery, naturally everyone was asking who would do the agriculture, but today we have giant machines that run on black liquid from the ground to do all the work. They couldn't have imagined all that, but the moral argument was made to change.

Solutions for Americans are always at the local level, start there, then County, then State, and stay involved. This dumbing down of Americans and Politicians running 'over' us as voters is stopped by that process. Go Local!! And everyone, I mean everyone, has something to contribute.. People are often not aware that even one hour a week is a huge contribution.

We are ALL Americans and we ALL need to focus on this and fix it. Excellent video, thank you.

I can tell his voice is shaking because he knows he should not be up there. After watching too many corrupt talks at TED, he is now a target and he knows it!

But in a democracy, those two powers are collapsed and the constituent power seeks to dominate but paradoxically becomes a constitutive form of power. Thus, the flaw of democracy is that there is no such thing as a democracy. The two powers will always be separated

Wow... America...

Just as politicians depend on the .05% to finance their operation, so do the corporate media networks. The people representing your interests in office and the people who decide what "news" you will consume are both DEPENDENT on funding from the .05%. It's not about good or evil, right or wrong. It's about the dollars and cents that are necessary for one's survival in this system.

I like this video so much! He's such a good lecturer!

A good talk about the the problem of corruption in politics however, there are no specifics about getting involved, no link, no specific direction about what each person can do, only some suggestions and hints. I think Dr. Lessig should be more specific about how exactly he wants people to get involved.

On the Ted website, he's written an ebook, which (my guess, I haven't read it) has more discrete actions that you can take. He also runs a group called Rootstrikers, which you can google on. I think he wanted to get the message to someone who knows a lot about what is going on and knew how to get involved take that call to action. In other talks, he would spend much more about explaining the issue, than the call to action. This talk is very different.

Read the wikipedia article on Convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution. There is more than one way to get an amendment to change how this system works, and this way it is done through the states and not Congress. State Legislatures are not free of corruption either, but they're clearly our only real hope.

Security should be distributed evenly, not hard packed against these lines that were originally drawn over the sale and purchase of tracts of land based on speculated value from literally hundreds of years earlier. If one community, however large, decides to cloister itself, the way nation states do today, they would only be harming themselves. It would be like North Korea creating a blockade against themselves.

It is SHOCKING to me that people from either side of the fence economically do not see the point and defend the current broken system in any way. This is quite simply bribery on a huge scale. The fact that it is completely legal makes it even worse.

NOOOOOOOOOO When you said "there is a need...to enforce law...these sociopaths would be roaming the streets" it showed that the state has total grip on your capacity to think freely. 1>No one wants to be murdered (aside from assisted suicide) 2>People pay insurance companies to pay out to their family if they are murdered 3>aside from private ownership of guns for self defense, insurance companies will hire armed security to respond to, apprehend, try, and detain murderers to

The single most important TED Talk at this day.

It's interesting that he mentions the need for removal of incentives, yet his proposal for a solution to the problem is rearranging the flow of money. The fundamental question should be: How did this corruption come about? The answer, I believe, lies in our economical system which is the main incentive for this corruption. Any other cures are only temporary. Money breeds corruption. The monetary economy gravitates around monopoly. We need to realize and accept these facts and act accordingly.

A good source: The Wall Street Journal, April 15, 2012. "Taxes-Who Really Is Paying Up". Note 63% of total taxes are paid by the top 10%, by the time one gets to the 20% income bracket, avg income is only 68.7 k (hardly the wealthy). More importantly, the figure in the article shows that total taxes paid strongly correlates with income, meaning the leeching going on is pretty small and people are paying taxes based on the money they make and what they can pay. That isn't leeching!

Smoothest power-point synchronisation in any talk ever.

WOW, it's a very good presentation about the political system in U.S.A.

Everyone who loves America for what it was needs to watch this and then pass it on to everyone they know.

This guy is amazing. Legendary presentation, very clear, like a textbook

So for example copyright law, original was 14 or 28 years so the creator was given incentive, but public domain gets max possible. Extending copyright to 100 years doesn't help the average person, just the copyright holders (small fraction) average person otherwise could have access to much more older stuff.

Thank you for posting this.

That's the story you've been told. People are less devious and envious than you think, and the poor are much harder working than you think. It's a story reasonably successful people tell themsleves sometimes...I got here ONLY because of my own hard work therefore those who DON"T make it MUST be lazy. Not true. There are other factors you just don't seem to be able to get.

What we need to do, instead, is simply end "campaign contributions." Utterly, totally. That and make our campaigns, say, three months long, at most, by law, as England and so many other nations did and long ago. And we have to fight for this. It has to come from us, from the people. Mo Rage the blog

One thing I know with certainty, is that everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. If you don't impose anykind of limitation for people with lot's of money to hold sway, then they won't hold sway. Just like how you don't regulate companies, they will do every anti-consumer thing that they can get away with. The most horrific case example, the financial industry. I do like a country if its fair... love doesn't have to be involved. Unless its directed towards me of course.

Excellent Video. Everyone should see this !

The access is not privileged. Most people don't get involved with their local government, but the "watchdogs" that do have a great deal more access and a much louder voice when keeping an eye on the local government than they do the federal government. A person running a state workforce development program was caught making over $1 million/year. Criminal charges were brought and at least one person went to jail. At the federal government, billions go unaccounted for and nobody loses a job.

Thanks, I have a better grasp on how it works. There have always been holes in my understanding

When I tried to watch this a 2nd time, it jumped to a different video, not related, before it ended. I was no where near my computer so I tried a 3rd time. The same thing happened but it jumped at a different point to yet another unrelated video. NO WONDER IT HASN'T BEEN SEEN BY A BAZILLION OTHERS.

really high quality talk

I still think it will take a constitutional amendment. All his suggested and referenced ideas are good ones and are a great start and/or bridge to limited spending by candidates; but until that spending is limited the 132 (the .0042%) who gave 60% of all superpac money will rule the day.... and the country. Remember, it's about to get worse. The Supreme Court will soon decide on "total individual contribution limit". Everyone expects it to be eliminated. Soon all it will take to legally bribe a candidate is just simply put the money, say a billion, into however many PACs you need and they can give it straight to your guy or gal. Done deal and all completely legal.

Bernie Sanders..spread his word and TELL EVERYONE TO WATCH THE DEBATES..BOTH REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRAT..and tell me who is an intellectual in the end, from what i see it is Bernie Sanders as of right now.

(cont.) I could have chosen to blow off my studies and socialize more. There could have been some benefits to that that I did not realize in life, but I opted to focus on those studies where others may not have done so to the same degree. Again, regardless of my environment, it was my own decisions and conscious choice that drove my actions. Hence...my decisions were PRIMARY, my environment was SECONDARY and an empowering element in that primary decision.