Reason has a short and fair piece summarizing for the libertarian right the issues around the debate scuffle. Midway through, however, it repeats something that others have said, and that I just, honestly, cannot understand. Says the great Jesse Walker (and for anyone who knows our history, you know I mean that with pure sincerity; Jesse’s written smartly about the culture wars for decades):

The gimmick of the Lessig campaign is that he’s pledging to push for one major bill if he’s elected—a collection of electoral reforms he’s calling the Citizen Equality Act



“Gimmick”?

When did achieving a democracy [and for those on the right who are going into a tantrum because I have used this word, please see the fn below] become a “gimmick”? The disease of this Republic is corruption, and equality (of citizens, bracket wealth) is the cure.

You might say this Republic suffers no disease. That’s fine. You might say it needs a different remedy. Ok. But I don’t see how crafting a hack to address this fundamental problem is fairly called a “gimmick.”

FN: “Democracy” — There’s a certain set of souls, usually from the right, who go ballistic anytime anyone refers to America as a “democracy.” There’s no basis for that. The framers gave us a “Republic.” By a “Republic” they meant a “representative democracy.” Just as a red hat is a hat, a representative democracy is a democracy. True, it’s not a direct democracy (and thank god it isn’t). But it is a democracy.