Lawrence Lessig: "We are the 99.95%" [video]
getdenso.com
getdenso.com
He would like to limit the maximum amount an individual is able to contribute to a very low figure (something like $100 or less) in order to change who has or has not access.
As a French, I find this very naive. Our politicians and their campaigns are paid for by public money, and have been for over 20 years now. It doesn't make our politicians more willing to listen to ordinary people. French politicians invented -- and implemented! -- Hadopi, for instance.
Access is very important, yes, but it's an illusion to link access with just money. I would say access is 1/3 social circles (who politicians went to school with, who they're married to, etc.), 1/3 power (economic power such as who employs the most people, but also who can make the most noise (farmers!!!)) and 1/3 "cultural power" (stars and pseudo-stars politicians meet when they're invited on a TV show, etc.)
Just because one removes the access that money give, they won't miraculously make politicians unbiased. Humans are biased, not just politicians, and there's not much anyone can do about it.
What can be done is what the founders of the US have done: write a strong Constitution and a stronger Bill of Rights. Despite what everyone says and complains about, that has proven to work pretty well for the last 200 years.