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posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday August 12 2015, @03:43PM   Printer-friendly

A familiar name to many in this community; Lawrence Lessig is considering a run at US President.

For those unaware, Lessig is a prominent advocate for copyright/trademark and campaign finance reform.

From the article:

Lessig, a Harvard law professor and government reform activist, announced Tuesday morning that he was launching a presidential exploratory committee to run as what he called a "referendum president" with the chief purpose of enacting sweeping changes to the nation's political system and ethics laws.

"Until we find a way to fix the rigged system, none of the other things that people talk about doing are going to be possible," Lessig said in an interview with The Washington Post, borrowing a phrase that has become Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren's rallying cry. "We have this fantasy politics right now where people are talking about all the wonderful things they're going to do while we know these things can't happen inside the rigged system."


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by jmoschner on Wednesday August 12 2015, @04:57PM

    by jmoschner (3296) on Wednesday August 12 2015, @04:57PM (#221756)

    While intention may be noble, this is the wrong way to go about such change. The President just doesn't have the power to make the changes he wants. Congress would just shut out such a President and never make the changes needed. He would be better off using the money and effort to back those running for office against the incumbents and push for reform from the ground up while pushing out the career politicians. Though that is easier said than done without getting your hands rather dirty.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by massa on Wednesday August 12 2015, @05:06PM

    by massa (5547) on Wednesday August 12 2015, @05:06PM (#221761)

    That is an universally needed campaign: NEVER VOTE FOR THE INCUMBENT.

    • (Score: 2) by etherscythe on Wednesday August 12 2015, @05:18PM

      by etherscythe (937) on Wednesday August 12 2015, @05:18PM (#221766) Journal

      More specifically, I think, if he can garner some attention then he may sway the campaigns of the other candidates. I don't think anyone expects him to actually win an election, but if it helped to curb some of the excessive influence of the IP lobby or bring a voice of reason to the debate, that would be a good thing.

      --
      "Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2015, @06:12PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2015, @06:12PM (#221795)

    That's his way of attracting eyeballs to the issue - he's not trying to get elected. You know, like Trump (but for different reasons).

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2015, @09:01PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2015, @09:01PM (#221919)

    Others have mentioned that a 3rd-party candidate has a low probability of taking the top spot. [wikipedia.org]

    Without gaining the candidacy of an -existing- party which has an already-vibrant structure in each state, the chances are even lower.

    Should Lessig gain that spot with an existing party and subsequently win the national general election, he could then leverage that party structure to press for constitutional amendments via individual state governments. [wikipedia.org]

    The guy with the top job also has something called the bully pulpit. [google.com]
    He could use his influence as Chief Executive to press for a constitutional convention that could make major changes like ranked voting.

    Now, being affiliated with a party that doesn't have enough oomph to have already gotten people elected to Congress, it's questionable how much he could get accomplished.

    Others have also mentioned that just being in the national race gives him a taller soapbox than Joe Average from which his ideas can be itemized.
    This assumes, of course, that
    - Lamestream Media will point their cameras and microphones in his direction.
    (If you look at the "coverage" of Bernie Sanders in LSM, you will see that LSM is doing the opposite of that because Bernie isn't a complete whore for Wall Street and he desires meaningful change for the 99 Percent.)
    - Alternately, it requires that USAians tune out Lamestream Media and instead consume e.g. Pacifica Radio or Free Speech TV or go to non-Reactioary websites for information with zero corporate propaganda.
    (I'm not holding my breath on that one.)

    -- gewg_