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Lessig Decides Not to Run For Congress
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Mon Feb 25, 2008 05:01 PM
from the jedis-are-going-to-feel-this-one dept.
from the jedis-are-going-to-feel-this-one dept.
micheas writes "Larry Lessig has decided that running for U.S. Congress himself in a special election would be too risky to his Change Congress movement and has decided not to run. 'With lots of mixed feelings, I have decided a run for Congress would not help the Change Congress movement. I explain the thinking in this 5 minute video (a new record for me!). First question: What happens to the contributions to Lessig08? As explained on the ActBlue page, all will go to (the yet to be established) Change Congress organization.'"
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Your Rights Online: Lessig For Congress? 137 comments
luge writes "With the unfortunate passing of Congressman Tom Lantos, parts of Silicon Valley and San Francisco will be holding a special election in June to send a replacement to Congress. Given the area, it would be great to have someone who is both tech- and policy-aware fill the seat — and it looks like that just might happen. Lawrence Lessig has apparently bought 'change-congress.com.' A 'Draft Lessig' group is forming on Facebook, featuring some of Lessig's old co-workers at Harvard and Jimmy Wales, among others. No word from Lessig himself yet, but he's been increasingly vocal about politics of late. If it happens, it would be a huge step forward for the representation of technology in Washington."
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Lessig Campaign and the Change Congress Movement 409 comments
GoldenShale wrote a follow up to last week's discussion about Lessig running for congress. He writes "Larry Lessig has created a Lessig08 website, and it looks like he is getting serious about running for congress. In his introduction video he proposes the creation of a national "Change Congress" movement which would try to limit the influence of money in the electoral and legislative processes. Having a technologically savvy representative and a clear intellectual leader to head this kind of movement is exactly what we need to counter the last 8 years of corporate dominance in government."
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Interesting (Score:5, Funny)
redundant (Score:3, Insightful)
mastershake (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Redundant)
Bait and Switch (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I've never heard of that happening before, and while I think it would be rather slimy to simply take the funds for his own personal gain, there's nothing wrong with donating them to the cause he was running to support.
Re: (Score:2)
People donated to his campaign. He dropped out. That's par for the course.
What you're suggesting is that either by dropping out or by not doing what no other politician has ever done, he did something wrong. I'm just looking for a LITTLE precedent, here....
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
And that precedent is from a LONG time ago (although in a galaxy far, far away).
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
But I can't feel too bad for folk who parted with their money on the expectation that he was going to run before he told us some pretty important information like, which party ticket? if as an independent then who would he vote for as speaker?
The party system exists for a reason and its not all bad. Saying that you are going to change congress without saying how or why is just more rhetorical bullshit. Bush delivered that m
Come on (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
However, I pulled up the google cache [google.com] of that same page and there is no mention of what will happen to the funds if he decides not to run. That seems somewhat shady, and I personally think he should have decided whether or not to run before starting to take donations.
Re:Come on (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Good move (Score:5, Insightful)
This also makes him available for appointment to some post in the White House. Imagine the work he could do in Commerce, overseeing the Internet, at the FCC overseeing information flow, or at Justice, overseeing IP-related enforcement.
Re: (Score:2)
Perhaps, but Norm Coleman needs to go. That backstabbing SOB needs to be dealt with decisively, and Al is probably the best person to do this.
Besides we need more people in Congress with a sense of humor!
Re: (Score:2)
Jackie Speier is a better candidate anyway (Score:2, Informative)
Translation: (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Why start so high? (Score:5, Insightful)
I dislike this notion that anything below the federal level is not worth their attention. True, it's not as bad as the Edwards or Nader position, "If I can't be president, I'm not going to bother." But if a new movement can prove itself on the local level, it can gain both the infrastructure and momentum necessary to advance.
silly notion (Score:3, Insightful)
1971: Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA): contribution disclosure
1974: FECA expanded to limit contributions
2002: McCain-Feingold limits speech and soft money
Guess what? No big change.
Ron Paul raised $35 million, and he didn't see much in the way of votes.
Politicians love to spread anti-business rhetoric to get votes, but they all know that if they screw up the economy by destroying businesses they will lose those votes, thus they act more like economists in action, and talk like economically ignorant people on the stump.
What a shameful waste of an opportunity... (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Who is Lessig and what is 'Change Congress" (Score:5, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Lessig [wikipedia.org]
http://lessig.org/blog/ [lessig.org]
In short, he's a very smart (arguably brilliant) legal mind who thinks that the current copyright system is the result of corrupt practices by media corporations and the complicit congress. He has unsuccessfully tried the legal route (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/technology/articles/eldredprimer_100902.htm [washingtonpost.com]) and is now working on the corruption aspect of the issue.
Parent