Airtime: Friday, February 5, 2010, at 9:00 PM (EST) on PBS (check local listings at https://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/about/airdates.html).
In the wake of a controversial Supreme Court decision giving corporations and unions more freedom to spend on elections, many federal and state lawmakers are hoping to curb Citizens United v. the FEC’s effect on elections. The “Journal” explores how some legislators are fighting to curb Big Money spending even as the court invalidates laws in 24 states aimed at keeping elections clean. Bill Moyers sits down with the libertarian journalist Nick Gillespie and legal scholar Lawrence Lessig to discuss public financing of campaigns and the effects of money on politics. Gillespie is editor in chief of Reason.tv and Reason.com and Lessig is a professor of law and director of Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics. Also on the program, with health care reform stalled, pediatrician Margaret Flowers speaks about protesting for change and her recent arrest in an effort to get a Medicare-for-all plan back on the table.