Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress--and a Plan to Stop It Book

Preface xi

Introduction 1

Part I The Nature of This Disease 11

1 Good Souls, Corrupted 13

2 Good Questions, Raised 21

3 1 + 1 = 37

Part II Tells 41

4 Why Don't We Have Free Markets? 43

5 Why Don't We Have Efficient Markets? 53

6 Why Don't We Have Successful Schools? 61

7 Why Isn't Our Financial System Safe? 67

Where Were the Regulators? 84

8 What the "Tells" Tell Us 87

Part III Beyond Suspicion: Congress's Corruption 89

9 Why So Damn Much Money 91

Demand for Campaign Cash 92

Supply of Campaign Cash: Substance 96

Supply of Campaign Cash: New Norms 99

Supply of Campaign Cash: New Suppliers 100

Economies, Gift and Otherwise 107

10 What So Damn Much Money Does 125

A Baseline of Independence 127

Deviations from a Baseline 131

O It Matters Not at All 134

1 Distraction 138

2 Distortion 142

3 Trust 166

11 How So Damn Much Money Defeats the Left 172

12 How So Damn Much Money Defeats the Right 193

1 Making Government Small 196

2 Simple Taxes 199

3 Keeping Markets Efficient 207

13 How So Little Money Makes Things Worse 214

The Ways We Pay Congress 216

The Benefits of Working for Members 221

14 Two Conceptions of "Corruptions" 226

Part IV Solutions 249

15 Reforms That Won't Reform 251

The Incompleteness of Transparency 251

The (Practical) Ineffectiveness of Anonymity 260

16 Reforms That Would Reform 264

The Grant and Franklin Project 265

17 Strategy 1: The Conventional Game 273

18 Strategy 2: An Unconventional (Primary) Game 276

19 Strategy 3: An Unconventional Presidential Game 280

20 Strategy 4: The Convention Game 290

21 Choosing Strategies 305

Conclusion: Rich People 309

Afterword to the Paperback Edition 319

Acknowledgments 329

Appendix: What You Can Do, Now 333

Notes 337

Index 381