A remarkable series of lectures at the University of Chicago by Lawrence Lessig on the notion of legal, institutional corruption and how it relates to the problems and pathologies of today’s American political system. Long-form video to be sure but well worth the investment, IMHO.
From the closing remarks to lecture one (in which he defines his notion of corruption and how it relates to Congress and the Constitution):
… we are externalizing our problem on them, on our children.
I don’t think we’re evil for doing that. I think we’re just pathetic.
We’re not actively taking something from our kids. We’re just sitting by doing nothing as this corruption corrupts their future.
We’re not the Nazis in this story. We’re the good Germans.
And somehow, we have to find a way to recognize responsibility, here. We have to find a way to act on it. And the first step is understanding, understanding that there is an evil that even good people cause by allowing the essential institutions of a free society to become corrupted.
Because that’s what we have done. And that’s what we must change.
There are five lectures on five different corruption-related topics (this first one on Congress). Videos are online. One down for me, four to go.