  opinion | jim Leach  Democracy for sale  Former US
representative, a Republican, calls Citizens United a grave
error   Adapted from a speech delivered at the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge on Oct. 7.  I would like to
address what I consider to be the Supreme Court’s second-gravest
historical error — the 2010 Citizens United ruling — and how
this singular court decision moves American politics in an
oligarchic direction.  Having spoken with people in hundreds of
venues over the past several years, I have become convinced that
America has never been more blessed with extraordinary
leadership in almost every field of human endeavor, from
business to medicine, from arts to academia. But there is no
doubt that it is becoming harder for thoughtful, independent-
minded leadership to emerge in the political system.  Continue
reading below   When I first ran for public office, the joke was
that no smart candidate should ever argue with those who buy ink
by the barrel, the press. Today, a not-so-fu