Professor Lessig Has One Solution To Our National Problems

One of the criticisms about the current Occupy movement is that its complaints are not matched by its desired solutions/demands.  Which to me is actually a compliment, because, unlike the Tea Party, which just seems to want to eliminate government by slashing taxes and budgets, the Occupy movement doesn't have such a simplistic and asinine approach. 

'Occupy' (or many of them anyway) knows that the solutions to our national problems are complicated.  The pain we are feeling right now is real, and we know that something is terribly wrong.  But eliminating the pain and suffering, and healing the disease, requires getting the right diagnosis and applying the correct treatment and medicine.  Otherwise, it's all for naught.

So what's the right diagnosis, and what treatments will truly heal the disease(s) of our nation?

One diagnosis and possible treatment can be found on this interview with Professor of Law Lawrence Lessig on the Diane Rehm show recently.  Professor Lessig, in his new book Republic, Lost, describes how our political (and therefore economic) system has been corrupted by the power of money in politics.  This has led to situation where the representatives of the people in Congress are no longer responsible or responsive to the people but mostly/only to the large special interests who fund their campaigns.

Lessig feels, and I tend to agree, that is one of the biggest problems at the heart of America, and that it is corrupting our politics (by turning it into a plutocracy, ruled by money), and our economy, by turning our free-enterprise system into a form of 'crony capitalism'.