Forum Post: Lawrence Lessig, Aaron Swartz, and the Super PAC to end Super PACs
Posted 10 years ago on June 26, 2014, 4:14 p.m. EST by BradB
(2693)
from Washington, DC
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What if you’re doing the wrong thing with your life? That’s what a 20-year-old Aaron Swartz asked Lawrence Lessig. In response, Lessig transformed his career, ending the work on Internet law that had made him famous and turning his sights on the impossible-seeming fight against money in politics.
Today, Lessig has an insanely audacious master plan to kick billionaires out of the political driver’s seat: get a bunch of billionaires to donate enough money to crush any politician who refuses to support campaign finance reform. (Yes, he’s aware of the irony.) To make THAT happen, he needs to show that corruption can be an election-winning issue. And to do that, he needs to raise $5 million from regular people, by July 4, for his anti-Super-PAC Super PAC, “Mayday.”
On this wrenching, fascinating episode of The Good Fight, Lessig tells his story, lays out his plan, and explains how Mayday emerged from the desperation Lessig felt after Aaron Swartz’s tragic suicide in 2013. Originally posted on June 13, 2014
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