Progressive activist Lawrence Lessig really doesn’t want to run for president.
But the Harvard professor announced he will form an exploratory bid to run for the Democratic nomination a Tuesday, because he feels compelled to fix the “rigged system” and restore the “equality of citizens.” Lessig supports making Election Day a national holiday so everyone has access to voting, ending political gerrymandering for proportional representation and publicly funded campaigns.
“This wont be easy, I get it,” Lessig said in his introductory campaign video. “No doubt there should be someone better than me, I have tried to recruit them and if someone better known credibly commits to making this run I will happily step aside. This campaign is not about a person, it’s about a principle.”
Lessing claims he would be a “referendum president,” saying he would serve “but only as long as it takes to pass fundamental reform to finally achieve citizen equality.” He claims he would then step down and let the vice president assume the presidency, and that person would be an establishment candidate, such as Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden.
“Every major candidate in the Democratic primary has acknowledged this corruption, so far every one of them has put it to the side, as if without fixing the first we could get climate change legislation or as limits on guns.”
The one caveat is that Lessing will only formally the race if he reaches $1 million by Labor Day. Mere hours after launching his exploratory committee, the professor has raised $30,781, with 297 donors so far and 28 days left to reach his goal.
