"We should remember what it felt like one year ago, as the ability to recall it emotionally will pass and it is an emotional memory as much as anything else," writes Lawrence Lessig in "How to Get our Democracy Back" in the current issue of The Nation.

Lessig's piece casts doubt on either party's ability to move major legislation forward, regardless of who is president. Congress has become a dysfunctional branch of government that can neither lead nor act decisively, Lessig writes. Members of Congress are beholden to K-Street lobbyists, who not only decide what legislation will come to the floor for a vote, but how it is written when it does.

The path of least resistance was taken by George H. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, says Lessig. And sadly, Lessig says, it appears to be the path that Obama is taking, too, despite a promise to change the way Washington works.

Increasingly, power rests with a small mix of interest groups that fund the key races, says Lessig. "This is corruption," he writes. And the resulting public cynicism is more threatening to our existence than terrorism, soaring debt, or global warming.

Just look at the current back and forth between the White House and Republicans over reviving stalled health-care talks. Obama began the reform process by first sitting down with insurance and pharma giants.

What was so different in that strategy, Lessig asks.

Republicans have been saying for months that they have ideas. But now they've asked for so many pre-conditions before they'll come to the table that you're left wondering if nuclear disarmament is one of them.

What's left but the status quo?

Everyday Americans won't believe in Congress until everyday Americans fund Congressional elections, says Lessig.

Without citizen-funded elections, the playing field will become increasingly uneven, Congress will become increasingly dysfunctional, and the democracy we once learned about in history class will become an appendix to modern US politics.