劳伦斯·莱斯格（Lawrence Lessig）生于1961年，是美国知名的法律学者及网络版权研究者，先后在斯坦福大学、哈佛大学及芝加哥大学等名校担任要职，目前为哈佛法学院的终身教授。作为网络版权的资深研究者，他创立了著名的“知识共享”（Creative Commons ）组织，是享誉国际的“CC之父”。作为社会活动家，他是多个政治组织的创立者或资深成员，持续在各大媒体上尖锐地批评美国政治制度的腐败，并呼吁民众和精英发动宪政改革。2015年，莱斯格宣布以民主党候选人的身份参加总统选举，力争成为第一位“公投总统”，并于同年年底退选。

In an era of ballooning corporate campaign expenditures, unleashed by the Supreme Court in Citizens United, trust in our government is at an all time low. More than ever before, Americans believe that money buys results in Congress - and that our Republic has been lost. Using examples that resonate as powerfully on the Right as on the Left, REPUBLIC, LOST not only makes clear how the economy of influence defeats the will of the people, but offers cogent strategies to correct our course - from a constitutional convention to a Regent Presidency. A onetime friend of Barack Obama, Lessig, a professor of law at Harvard, is as critical of the president and the Democratic Party as he is of Republicans. Both have allowed the core institution of our democracy to become little more than a shill for the most powerful moneyed interests in our Republic. America may be divided, argues Lessig, but we must recognize that corruption is our common enemy, and we must find a way to fight against it.