“‘Misunderestimating’ Campaign Finance Reform”

Jonathan Backer responds to Ezra Klein’s review of Larry Lessig’s and Jack Abramoff’s books.  (Lessig’s response to Klein is here.)

Klein’s general take is that concern over campaign finance and lobbying reform is overblown.  Backer says it is a more important part of the picture than Klein recognizes.

My view: the relationship of campaign finance reform to the issues needed to fix Washington is very complicated. I try to sort it out in my forthcoming Harvard Law Review essay on Lessig’s and Abramoff’s books. Ezra way understates the importance of money in politics, but Lessig way overstates how much campaign finance and lobbying reform could accomplish.

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