“ Nor can one exaggerate the need for precisely this reform. We can’t just putter along anymore. Our government is, as Paul Krugman put it, “ominously dysfunctional” just at a time when the world desperately needs at least competence. Global warming, pandemic disease, a crashing world economy: these are not problems we can leave to a litter of distracted souls. We are at one of those rare but critical moments when a nation must remake itself, to restore its government to its high ideals and to the potential of its people. Think of the brilliance of almost any bit of the private sector—from Hollywood, to Silicon Valley, to MIT, to the arts in New York or Nashville—and imagine a government that reflected just a fraction of that excellence. We cannot afford any less anymore.
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Lawrence Lessig, How To Get Our Democracy Back (via The Nation)
One of the highlights I had last year was watching RIP!: A Remix Manifesto at SXSW and seeing Lawrence Lessig (who is also featured in it) argue with this senile old man from the audience trying to make some point on copyright laws and intellectual property (something you know, Lessig is kinda an expert at). It was pretty great witnessing live someone I’ve only seen in TED Talk videos, and even better the awkwardness that ensued during the whole debate. I wish there was a crazy old man in every film screening.
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