One Way Forward: The Outsider's Guide to Fixing the Republic

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Something is clearly rotten in our Republic. Americans have lost faith in their politicians to a greater degree than ever, resigning themselves to the best Congress money can buy. It doesn't matter whether they are Democrats or Republicans, people are disillusioned and angry as hell. They feel like outsiders in their own nation, powerless over their own lives, blocked from having a real voice in how they are governed.

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But all of this can change -- we have the power. Lawrence Lessig, the renowned Harvard Law School professor, political activist, and author of the bestselling Republic, Lost, presents a clear-eyed, bipartisan manifesto for revolution just when we need it the most. One Way Forward, to be released on Tuesday, February 14th by the digital publisher Byliner, is a rousing, eloquent, and ultimately optimistic call to action for Americans of all political persuasions. Notable in these viciously partisan times, Lessig pitches his address equally to Occupy Wall Streeters, Tea Party Patriots, independents, anarchists, and baffled citizens of the American middle. Despite our serious political differences, he argues, we can -- and must -- change the system for the better.   

At the core of our government, Lessig says, is "a legal corruption." In other words: money. The job of politics has been left to a tiny slice of Americans who dominate campaign finance and exert a disproportionate influence on lawgivers as a result. This, he writes, "is a dynamic that would be obvious to Tony Soprano or Michael Corleone but that is sometimes obscure to political scientists: a protection racket that flourishes while our Republic burns."

"We don't need to destroy wealth," Lessig declares. "We need to destroy the ability of wealth to corrupt our politics."   

With the common-sense idealism of his hero, Henry David Thoreau, Lessig shows how Americans can take back their country, and he provides a concrete and surprisingly practical set of instructions for doing it.

In a season when Americans are poised between the hope for real change and the fear that once again, they won't get it, One Way Forward charts a course to a thrillingly new American future in which every citizen has a voice that matters, no matter how fat his or her wallet.

Lawrence Lessig is the director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University and the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School. His most recent book is Republic, Lost, an attack on the destructive influence of special-interest money on American politics. He is also the author of Code and other Laws of Cyberspace, The Future of Ideas, Free Culture, Code: Version 2.0, and Remix: Making Art and Culture Thrive in the Hybrid Economy. He is a founding board member of Creative Commons and serves on the board of Maplight.

Byliner publishes compelling works of original fiction and nonfiction written to be read in a single sitting. Among its bestselling titles are Amy Tan's Rules for Virgins, Jon Krakauer's Three Cups of Deceit, Ann Patchett's The Getaway Car, William T. Vollmann's Into the Forbidden Zone, Taylor Branch's The Cartel, and Mark Bittman's Cooking Solves Everything. The companion website, Byliner.com, features curated archives of the best fiction and nonfiction writing, and allows readers to easily find, share, and buy new and classic stories by their favorite authors.

One Way Forward will be available on February 14 for $1.99 as a Kindle Single at Amazon, a Quick Read at Apple's iBookstore, and a Nook Snap at BarnesAndNoble.com.

SOURCE Byliner Inc.