Auros ([info]auros) wrote,
@ 2008-02-21 12:41:00
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Current mood: intrigued

Professor Lessig goes to Washington?
Lawrence Lessig, esteemed Stanford professor, expert on copyright and freedom of expression, and progressive thinker, has started exploring the possibility of running against Jackie Speier for the Congressional seat opened by the death of Tom Lantos, on a platform focused entirely on reforming the system by which we fund politics.

Personally, I suspect Jackie will disarm this by simply taking the pledge he has proposed; she did in the past take money from insurers, but I suspect the ability of popular politicians to fundraise from individuals, in small amounts, has evolved to the point that she will be able to get by without PACs and corporate officers. Still, it'd be interesting having Lessig in the conversation.


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[info]jrtom
2008-02-21 11:59 pm UTC (link)
Interesting. I hope that he does decide to stop using ActBlue, though: as a PAC (even though he's not using it as such) it has the potential to really fuzz his message as being anti-PAC. (As several commenters on his website have pointed out.)

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[info]auros
2008-02-22 08:14 am UTC (link)
I find that complaint pretty silly. If you say that taking money through ActBlue is equivalent to taking money from a PAC, you might as well say that taking money through PayPal is equivalent to taking money from a corporation. In both cases, an individual directs the transaction, no money flows from the transaction agent to the candidate, and in the case of ActBlue, the agent facilitating the transaction doesn't even receive any money in exchange for said facilitation, unless the donor chooses to give it to them.

What next? Taking any online donation is equivalent to being in the pocket of AT&T and other owners of internet backbones?

Edited at 2008-02-22 08:15 am UTC

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[info]jrtom
2008-02-22 03:23 pm UTC (link)
Slow down. _I'm_ not objecting to his use of ActBlue. I'm merely pointing out that doing so, rather than using PayPal or the like, makes it easy to portray him as a hypocrite should any political opponents choose to do so. Nuance gets lost very easily in campaigns. (As Kerry could tell you.)

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[info]auros
2008-02-22 06:01 pm UTC (link)
And again, my reply is that the correct response to that line of attack is to ridicule the opponent making it. Do they take donations processed through Visa? OMG, they must be in the pocket of the credit card industry!

Edited at 2008-02-22 06:01 pm UTC

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[info]hukuma
2008-02-22 12:19 am UTC (link)
If she takes the pledge, that's already a good step forward for his agenda.

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[info]plymouth
2008-02-25 11:33 pm UTC (link)
he sez no.

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