Larry Lessig Will Run If He Gets A Million By Labor Day: Will Jeffrey Epstein Contribute?

Two more days. The last I looked 6,100 people had donated $734,435 in support of the highly-unknown Larry Lessig a 54 year old from Rapid City, South Dakota. He’s a real smart guy with a law degree from Yale, a masters in philosophy from the University of Cambridge in England,  a B.A. in economics from Wharton, and a teacher at Harvard Law School. Lessig says he will run for president if he reaches a million dollars by Labor Day. He seems like a good guy. He is sincere. He has spent his life in academic circles so he has a few ideas that are, to be nice, childish which is just what we need in a president.

His ideas are contained in his Citizen  Equality Act.   He wants to make voting easier by having automatic registration, (you know we don’t want people to have to exert any effort to participate in our elections or have any idea of what is happening). He wants to shift Election Day to a national holiday (Sorry honey! I can’t help cook the turkey. I have to go vote.)

You can stop right there and see that this is an academic approach to a problem which when examined closely solves nothing. By no means do I denigrate the franchise. It is of absolute importance that those who wish to vote can vote without undue hindrance for it was through the vote many of the inimical hindrances on groups such as the Irish and the blacks were reversed. But I do suggest that some initiative should be shown by a person interested in participating in our elections other than breathing. Also, there is nothing to show that changing the election to a national holiday will increase the turnout. What will is having a choice between or among worthwhile candidates.

Expectant candidate Lessig is also for “Rank Choice Voting” which seems to be an all right pie-in-the-sky idea. He suggests this is a way to do away with gerrymandering but it won’t necessarily produce better candidates but it is so easily subject to manipulation that only a professor would not understand how unworkable it really is.

Finally, his proposal to do away with big money running the system is to give “every voter a voucher to contribute to fund congressional and presidential campaigns; it would provide matching funds for small-dollar contributions to congressional and presidential campaigns.”  The big, really big problem with government financed elections is that you draw out of the woodwork every Tom, Daisy, or Crasie who has no chance of election but would like to put a few extra dollars in their pockets.

Our present system isn’t great especially since we’ll soon be left with choosing among billionaires on big-ego trips but government funding isn’t the solution. If you want fair elections change the Supreme Court or the Constitution and limit the total amount that can be contributed to an election by anyone including the candidate,  put a cap on how much can be spent, eliminate outside parties, and make it illegal to campaign any sooner than 120 days before an election.

Then as I understand it Lessig after getting his proposals enacted plans to resign the office and go back to teaching. He admits his proposals have no chance of passing so that means he can be president for life. His whole candidacy is so silly it will be sad if he doesn’t reach a million dollars. We will need some entertainment after Donald implodes.

I Lessig him on the Jim Braude progressive show on PBS. He seems sincere. His ideas though have as much chance of surviving as a handful of straw on top of a burning hay stack. But what else would you expect from a professor of law at Harvard.

Lessig is one of the professors who told us how courageous and outspoken Professor Dershowitz is for his many denials of involvement with the young girl in Florida. Such courage!  Can we expect him to have Alan as the Attorney General;  and, perhaps if Jeffrey Epstein makes up the difference in funds he needs to reach a million he can make him Secretary of Human Services.