Lawrence Lessig 2016 [D] USA

[The3rdCatalyst]

From the wiki...

"Lawrence 'Larry' Lessig is an American academic and political activist..."

"He is a proponent of reduced legal restrictions on copyright, trademark, and radio frequency spectrum, particularly in technology applications, and he has called for state-based activism to promote substantive reform of government with a Second Constitutional Convention.[4] In May 2014, he launched a crowd-funded political action committee which he termed Mayday PAC with the purpose of electing candidates to Congress who would pass campaign finance reform..."

"In August 2015, Lessig announced that he was exploring a possible candidacy for President of the United States in the 2016 election, promising to run if his exploratory committee raised $1 million by Labor Day.[2] After accomplishing this, on September 6, 2015, Lessig announced that he would become a candidate for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.[3] He has stated that he would resign from Harvard to run in this election, and if elected, resign as president if he accomplished his goals of passing campaign finance reform and electoral reform legislation..."

Lawrence was a big supporter of Obama during his campaign but later called him a "betrayer" and use of "The Clinton Playbook" in a speech back in 2011. He is running as a Democrat, but is a liberal with a past of conservative and libertarian views until he attended Cambridge. Today he is a big supporter of Elizabeth Warren. He has also given a nod to John McCain when he wrote a letter to Youtube/Google about copy right issues/rights when many campaign videos were unrightfully taken down during his campaign.

His running policies are that he wants to reform the election process, taking money out of political system and less qualifications to become a voter. He is also for net neutrality and a big supporter of freedom of speech. Lessig has claimed, on the Colbert Report, that 70% of young internet users get their digital information from illegal sources and wants to create new laws to change this.

My Opinion

He is an ideologue, much like Bernie sanders or Rand Paul. This does not inherently mean he is wrong, but I feel he is not looking at the great scope of what the country needs vs what the people want. The US people know that things are bad, but we don't know what to do -- this does not mean I objectively know what is best either. Like Sanders, he is saying things he know aren't right, we don't really know how to change it, but says he will change them.

I do agree that if the 70% of internet users number is true, then this is an issue. People will always go the route which is most convenient, this does not always mean free. I do not agree that new laws and regulation will fix this. Regulations are manipulated such as the political system being manipulated so that money being secretly put into politician's hands. If we are going to have people not stealing information, it needs to be convenient and not accidentally put up a wall with the idea for the overall benefit.

I think he has the best of intentions but I believe the biggest problem the country has right now is the economy and there is not much to suggest he knows how to run one. He is a political activist who has spoke deeply on freedom of speech, net neutrality, and the redistribution of power and money. What does know about trade and commerce? What are his ideals on large and small business development? I do know he is anti corporatism/anti cronycapitalism but many other questions as these could not be answered (yet).

Despite the statistics POTUS releases of near 5% unemployment, most of the jobs are part-time/without benefit low paying jobs. Annual income is declining, laborforce participation is at a 30-year low, the S&P has reached a 1-year low and is declining, and stocks are falling faster than Sadam's Statue. What I am getting at is once money stops going into stocks and bonds the lack of flow will surge back to the people and it will hit hard and people will look for someone to blame. I don't think he is the man who would be able to handle fingers pointing at him and his area of specialties, though important, are not the most important subjects to sustain the country.

What I do like him most for is his ideals on large state/local government and smaller national government. We are a very large country and we do deal with cultural issues and how the laws are enacted. Also manufacturing in, say Michigan is different than Vermont. This means we should restrict trade laws by how states act. Federal laws do have a place when they are truly morally best for the country, but the nation cannot adequately speak for everyone. Smaller groups means more voices can be heard to help most people.

[Independent voter]

I'm going to wait a year before I start getting interested in candidates.