I'm Bill Moyers.

It's good to have your ear.

This week on Moyers & Company,

The Wire is David Simon on the corruption of politics.

I don't think that you can call the American government anything other than broken at this point,

and I think the break has come at the legislative level.

I mean, that's the part of the government that has been purchased.

And the scholar and activist, Lawrence Lessig, leads a march across New Hampshire to put political

corruption on ice.

If you think about every single important issue America has to address, if you look at the

way our system functions right now, you have to see that there will be no sensible reform given the way we fund campaigns.

Thanks for joining us.

There's no way to say it nicely.

The stench of corruption hangs over American politics like smog over Shanghai.

Every day brings new headlines.

If it's not in Chris Christie's New Jersey, it's in Ray Nagin's New Orleans, where the former

mayor has been convicted for taking bribes and kickbacks.

And in our nation's capital, the revolving door whirls like a runaway carousel delivering one

member of Congress or top staffer after another into the waiting

arms of corporate mercenaries offering top dollar for services rendered, never mind the

conflicts of interest. And all the while, gushers of money pour into political campaigns nonstop,

producing a marionette government of legalized theft. You would think all this sleeves would be enough

...