Lessig from copyfight to fighting "corruption"

Lessig skiftar delvis beite, og den type korrupsjon som han går etter er like innbakt i vårt politiske demokrati som klanstilhøyrigheit er bakt inn i mange tredje verda regimer. Gjer ein opprør mot klanstilhøyrigheita i desse landa så gjer ein opprør mot sin eigen familie. Liknande er det med Lessig sin korrupsjon, her er det kanskje familie og nære vener som får svi, eller at ein ikkje har pengar til å drive valkamp.

Hugsar godt eg for nokre år sidan las at American Geophysical Association hadde, etter tredve års debatt, kome fram til konsensus om at global oppvarming var menneskeskapt og ville få store konsekvensar. Eg vart overraska over at det skulle ta fleire år før til og med dette skulle få litt gjennomslag i offentleg politikk.

I ein av kommentarane på bloggen til Lessig stod dette: ""Every political system makes the crucial but erroneous assumption that the citizens are rational and strive for social justice. “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute talk with the average voter.”—Churchill."



"This is a thought I've often had in the debates I've been a part of, especially with respect to IP. Think, for example, about term extension. From a public policy perspective, the question of extending existing copyright terms is, as Milton Friedman put it, a "no brainer." As the Gowers Commission concluded in Britain, a government should never extend an existing copyright term. No public regarding justification could justify the extraordinary deadweight loss that such extensions impose.

Yet governments continue to push ahead with this idiot idea -- both Britain and Japan for example are considering extending existing terms. Why?

The answer is a kind of corruption of the political process. Or better, a "corruption" of the political process. I don't mean corruption in the simple sense of bribery. I mean "corruption" in the sense that the system is so queered by the influence of money that it can't even get an issue as simple and clear as term extension right. Politicians are starved for the resources concentrated interests can provide. In the US, listening to money is the only way to secure reelection. And so an economy of influence bends public policy away from sense, always to dollars."

Bra kommentar:

"Every political system makes the crucial but erroneous assumption that the citizens are rational and strive for social justice. “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute talk with the average voter.”—Churchill."

http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/003800.shtml