Lawrence Lessig is officially running for president in 2016. (Screenshot)
Sep 07, 2015
Campaign finance reform advocate Lawrence Lessig on Sunday confirmed that he would run for U.S. president in 2016, announcing that the exploratory committee he formed in August had hit its $1 million fundraising target by its Labor Day deadline.
Lessig made his statement on ABC's This Week during an interview with host George Stephanopoulos.
"I'm in, George," he said. "I'm running to get people to acknowledge the elephant in the room, right. We have to recognize we have a government that does not work."
As he explained in August, Lessig will run on a platform that targets campaign finance--and, if elected, would step down as soon as Congress passed a package of pro-democracy reforms.
"I want to run to be a different kind of president," Lessig wrote for the Huffington Post last month. "'Different' not in the traditional political puffery sense of that term. 'Different,' quite literally. I want to run to build a mandate for the fundamental change that our democracy desperately needs. Once that is passed, I would resign, and the elected Vice President would become President."
It's the latest development in a race for the White House that has proven to be full of surprises, with the rapid rise of Sen. Bernie Sanders on the Democratic side and Donald Trump on the Republican.
"This stalemate, partisan platform of American politics in Washington right now doesn't work," Lessig said on Sunday. "And we have to find a way to elevate the debate to focus on the changes that would actually get us a government that could work again, that is not captured by the tiniest fraction of the 1 percent who fund campaigns and make it impossible for our government."
An Unconstitutional Rampage
Trump and Musk are on an unconstitutional rampage, aiming for virtually every corner of the federal government. These two right-wing billionaires are targeting nurses, scientists, teachers, daycare providers, judges, veterans, air traffic controllers, and nuclear safety inspectors. No one is safe. The food stamps program, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are next. It’s an unprecedented disaster and a five-alarm fire, but there will be a reckoning. The people did not vote for this. The American people do not want this dystopian hellscape that hides behind claims of “efficiency.” Still, in reality, it is all a giveaway to corporate interests and the libertarian dreams of far-right oligarchs like Musk. Common Dreams is playing a vital role by reporting day and night on this orgy of corruption and greed, as well as what everyday people can do to organize and fight back. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
Campaign finance reform advocate Lawrence Lessig on Sunday confirmed that he would run for U.S. president in 2016, announcing that the exploratory committee he formed in August had hit its $1 million fundraising target by its Labor Day deadline.
Lessig made his statement on ABC's This Week during an interview with host George Stephanopoulos.
"I'm in, George," he said. "I'm running to get people to acknowledge the elephant in the room, right. We have to recognize we have a government that does not work."
As he explained in August, Lessig will run on a platform that targets campaign finance--and, if elected, would step down as soon as Congress passed a package of pro-democracy reforms.
"I want to run to be a different kind of president," Lessig wrote for the Huffington Post last month. "'Different' not in the traditional political puffery sense of that term. 'Different,' quite literally. I want to run to build a mandate for the fundamental change that our democracy desperately needs. Once that is passed, I would resign, and the elected Vice President would become President."
It's the latest development in a race for the White House that has proven to be full of surprises, with the rapid rise of Sen. Bernie Sanders on the Democratic side and Donald Trump on the Republican.
"This stalemate, partisan platform of American politics in Washington right now doesn't work," Lessig said on Sunday. "And we have to find a way to elevate the debate to focus on the changes that would actually get us a government that could work again, that is not captured by the tiniest fraction of the 1 percent who fund campaigns and make it impossible for our government."
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
Campaign finance reform advocate Lawrence Lessig on Sunday confirmed that he would run for U.S. president in 2016, announcing that the exploratory committee he formed in August had hit its $1 million fundraising target by its Labor Day deadline.
Lessig made his statement on ABC's This Week during an interview with host George Stephanopoulos.
"I'm in, George," he said. "I'm running to get people to acknowledge the elephant in the room, right. We have to recognize we have a government that does not work."
As he explained in August, Lessig will run on a platform that targets campaign finance--and, if elected, would step down as soon as Congress passed a package of pro-democracy reforms.
"I want to run to be a different kind of president," Lessig wrote for the Huffington Post last month. "'Different' not in the traditional political puffery sense of that term. 'Different,' quite literally. I want to run to build a mandate for the fundamental change that our democracy desperately needs. Once that is passed, I would resign, and the elected Vice President would become President."
It's the latest development in a race for the White House that has proven to be full of surprises, with the rapid rise of Sen. Bernie Sanders on the Democratic side and Donald Trump on the Republican.
"This stalemate, partisan platform of American politics in Washington right now doesn't work," Lessig said on Sunday. "And we have to find a way to elevate the debate to focus on the changes that would actually get us a government that could work again, that is not captured by the tiniest fraction of the 1 percent who fund campaigns and make it impossible for our government."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.