…at least long enough to enact some government reforms, then he wants to resign. He would seek the Democratic nomination if he can raise $1M by Labor Day. He suggests Sen. Warren as his VP, but that would put MA electors in a predicament.
Please share widely!
Bernie Sanders already has $15 million and is endorsing all of these reforms and many more that would reduce corporate influence over the government. Hillary, while imperfect in how she is funding her campaign, has made similar commitments. If this is the single issue candidacy of this cycle, Bernie Sanders is already it’s candidate. Unless he is writing a book or wants to draw attention to himself, always possible, I don’t see how this helps his movement or what activists would be fired up to help him who aren’t already committed to Sanders.
I’ve gone to a couple of his conferences and spoken with him from time to time at various Harvard Law events. Extremely smart guy, brilliant teacher, one of the best I’ve seen.
Politically astute? I don’t think so. He seems to believe in a magical middle where Left and Right (and everybody else) can meet. He started out as a Reagan delegate in 1980, if I recall correctly, and has moved towards the Center (whatever that is) since. He reaches much more readily to the Right and the Tea Party than he does to the Left and Occupy or Black Lives Matter, in my experience.
I admire his persistence, commitment, and intelligence but don’t believe he has any deep understanding of practical politics or of political movements. I discovered long ago that there is a critical difference between “smart” and “wise.” Lessig is extremely smart. I don’t believe he is very wise. Yet.
He’s an idiot. His funneling money to far-right nuts in New Hampshire proved that. I feel bad for anyone who thought they’d be helping the cause of campaign finance reform by donating to him.
He’s been a neighbor of mine for years, and I’ve gotten to know him, his wife, and his children.
Professor Lessig is a lot of things, and I think there are plenty of fair complements and criticisms for the man. Idiot is not one of them.
who I find to be painfully clueless about politics and the real world. Sadly, I agree with many of the comments here that Lessig’s latest stunt – and let’s be clear, that’s what it is – is little more than narcissism. It has a vanishingly small chance of accomplishing anything beyond generating a few more headlines for Lessig’s scrapbook. What a waste of time, effort, and other people’s money. 🙁
But I cannot imagine what makes him think either that there’s any conceivable chance that he could be elected or that he could get his proposal passed into law if he did. Let alone see those proposals enacted immediately and go into effect immediately, so as to be able to turn the reins over to his hypothetical VP and ride heroically off into the sunset.
I’m genuinely mystified. He’s a brilliant guy, but this isn’t just not politically astute; this is realms-of-fantasy stuff. Particularly since Sanders has already occupied the political space Lessig is trying to claim. I read his announcement, and I still can’t figure out what he thinks he’s doing.
Lessig’s biggest mistake, in my opinion, is getting anywhere near the odious Mark McKinnon, former George W Bush operative and one of the originators of No Labels and Americans Elect which I prefer to call America’s Elect. He’s the epitome of the mythology of a Sensible Center.
Remember when he campaigned for the guy challenging Scott Brown from the right in New Hampshire? What a joke.
His complaint against Bernie was apparently that campaign finance reform wasn’t high enough on the list of issues on the issues page. Give me a break. It’s a built-in part of his stump speech.
Lessig is wasting his–and our–time.
hurt the progressive cause we all believe in and waste our limited resources. They seek to divert our attention away from our mission to defeat the nativist, xenophobic, bigoted Know-Nothing juggernaut massing against us.
We must keep our eyes on the prize and be ever vigilant and disciplined moving forward.
Fred Rich LaRiccia
Professor Lessig almost certainly can raise $1 million with his vast Internet audience: it’s not exactly a high bar. But if his political past is any indicator, Lessig’s campaign will be mainly a source of amusement, and its demise of Schadenfreude. There’s not much appetite for his quirky libertarianism among most Democrats, and far more credible Democratic candidates have probative positions on the campaign finance and public participation issues Lessig puts front and center. That’s the problem with living in an Internet bubble: you don’t get that what may thrill Netroots Nation as “disruptive” is viewed as gadfly narcissism by people in the trenches who do not have a comfy ivory tower perch to return to when the going gets rough.