Harvard Law School professor Larry Lessig has announced a pretty bonkers plan to extract big money from politics, and it might involve him running for president. You know, if no one better comes along.
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By "referendum president," Lessig means a president that runs on one issue and one issue only. In this case, the issue is campaign finance reform. Last year, Lessig launched a Super PAC called Mayday PAC that backed candidates who supported these reforms. Now, he's taking that idea one step further.
It'll work like this: Lessig is asking the public to contribute to a crowdfunding campaign to end what Lessig calls a "rigged system." If the campaign raises $1 million by Labor Day, and if none of the Democratic candidates agree to make campaign finance reform a core issue in their campaigns, then Lessig will run for president. If he wins, he promises to serve for as long as it takes to pass reforms, before handing the reigns over to his vice president.
"No doubt, there should be someone better than me," he says in the video—a phrase that has most certainly never been uttered in a presidential campaign announcement video. "This campaign is not about a person. It's about a principle—an American principle that we must reclaim."
This campaign isn't really about winning the presidency, either. Instead, it's about bringing the issue of corporate involvement in government to the forefront. "Until it is fixed," Lessig says, "no sensible reform is even possible."
Check out Lessig's full video below:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/CaqrQz71bMk
