Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig on Tuesday announced his crowd-funded campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, saying that he is running with the intention of hacking the political system.
Lessig says that unlike Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, he will focus exclusively on "unrigging the political system," which he contends is too involved in rewarding wealthy and powerful donors who bankroll political campaigns, reported The Associated Press.
"As I've watched the Democratic primary develop, I've been inspired by the bold ideas that every candidate is talking about - how they're going to fix climate change or take on Wall Street or deal with student debt. But I've been increasingly struck and frustrated by this almost denial: they're not going to be able to do any of that until they, in the words of Elizabeth Warren, fix the rigged system first. Eighty-two percent of Americans believe the system is rigged. They're right. And the only way we can get those changes enacted is if we address that rigged system, and fix it, and then have a Congress that's actually free to lead," Lessig told Bloomberg.
He continued: "And so while the candidates have increasingly identified steps they would take along the direction of fixing this rigged system - this has been encouraging - none have shown us how they'll have a mandate to do this first, and then be able to address these other problems that we all agree have to be addressed. So what led me to think that I need to find a way to intervene was my belief that we could build the mandate to fix this rigged system first, and then give the next president the opportunity to actually be president in the context of a Congress that's free to lead rather than follow their funders."
Lessig said that if he can raise $1 million by Labor Day, he will officially resign from Harvard, formally launch his campaign, and focus on winning the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. If not, he will return the money and go back to teaching.
His platform is laid out on his website and focuses almost political reform, such as expanding voter rights, ending partisan gerrymandering and enacting campaign finance reform. Lessig said he wants to push for citizen funding of all federal campaigns and do away with dark money from wealthy donors, corporations and other special interest groups.
If he is elected president, Lessig "will use every power of the office - and the mandate of the election - to get Congress to pass the Equal Citizens Act of 2017," his website says.
"When it does, he will sign it, and submit his letter of resignation on the same day. After he resigns, the Vice President will become President, and we will have taken the most important step towards a Congress that is free to represent us since Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence."
Lessig carried out another political experiment during the 2014 midterm elections, forming a "super PAC to end all super PACs."
His Mayday PAC only spent money on candidates who opposed big money in politics. The super PAC raised $11 million and only won two of the eight contests in which it spent money, according to AP.
