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Lawrence Lessig Answers Your Questions About His Mayday PAC (Video)
We've mentioned this interesting PAC more than once, including when Steve Wozniak endorsed it. The original Mayday PAC goal was to raise $1 million. Now Larry is working on a second -- and more ambitious -- goal: To raise $5 million by July 4. We called for your questions on June 23, and got a bunch of them. This time, instead of asking via email, we used Google Hangout to ask via video.
Here's a quote from the Mayday website:'We are a crowdfunded Super PAC to end all Super PACs. Ironic? Yes. Embrace the irony. We’re kickstarting a Super PAC big enough to make it possible to win a Congress committed to fundamental reform by 2016. We set fundraising goals and then crowdfund those goals." Check the Mayday About page and you'll see that a whole bunch of Internet and coding luminaries are on board. You may also notice that they span the political spectrum; this is totally not a partisan effort. | Another quote from the website: "Wealthy funders are holding our democracy hostage. We want to pay the ransom and get it back." Is this an achievable goal? We'll never know if we don't try. | This is Part 1 of a 2-part video. (Alternate Video Link) Update: 07/02 23:42 GMT by T : Here's a link to part 2 of the video, too.
What difference does any of these efforts make if the 9-robe court thinks corporate donations and an individual's right to free speech are essentially exactly the same?
What process defeats an over-arching fail condition like that?
Would be to put it all in youtube videos, right?
WRONG.
Sure, videos have their purpose but just give me a damned transcript. I can read a transcript in much less time than it takes to watch some old guy babble, and I can search the text of it as well.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Written answers are higher quality than spoken. I'm not interested in watching a video. (I thought we'd already covered this? Does anyone really like videos on /. ?)
Haven't these same people already elected a President committed to fundamental transformation of America? Has it not proven to be a disaster both inside and outside the country?
Now they ask for your money to put more of the same people into Congress — because "this time it will be different"?
And how will that help their lesser goal — that of altering the First Amendment?
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Wtf is next, floating download buttons that auto load malware?
the mega-corporations (banking cartel, big oil, defense, etc.) that have our government in their pockets won't be stopped or hindered by this well-intentioned idea. something more drastic would be needed, constitutional amendment using path of national convention and ratifying states
Come on, guys. Post the damn transcript instead of a stupid video.
The best thing about UDP jokes is I don't care if you get them or not
I second that motion!
There's this site somewhere; out there on the internet. It's very weird, but you can just go there and post more or less anything you want. Even rants about youtube videos. They don't delete almost anything, but sometimes things get hidden ("modded down"). If you could just find out where it is then maybe you could watch the video and post a transcript so everybody else could just search it. Shame I can't remember the name.
Or perhaps you already donated a few hundred thousand to the PAC to pay for this. In which case I apologize; I am sure your transcript will be ready soon.
Why should we expect you to be any different than all the other politicians?
So we're going to win against the mega-corporations by outspending them? The top five companies in the US alone bring in 1.4 trillion USD/year in revenue. It would take them less than two minutes to match this new, larger goal.
Just because I can hook a shark from a boat, I do no offer to wrestle it in the water.
I don't come to /. to watch videos.
I'd like to debate you here, but frankly, I just looked at their actual site.
Zero information.
Blah blah blah - vague idea - blah blah blah, "fundamental reform". The hell does that mean?
No, I'm not watching a bunch of YouTube videos from talking heads to find out. So I'm just going to have to assume you're correct. Here's a bunch of fools who want to keep doing the same broken stuff that they've been trying over the past eight years.
"People won't be late for work though, because the governor lady said, "I'm sending in more trains!" (Another train crashes into the wreckage causing a massive explosion)
Thanks, but no thanks.
The front page of Mayday's site says in big, bold print:
Help us reduce the influence of money in politics!
Right above a big, red GIMMEMONIES! button.
That's funny.
What's hilarious are the 2 possible motivations I see: 1) they're actually trying to 'reduce the influence of money in poltiics...' by introducing a shit-ton of money into politics, or 2) they're fleecing suckers under false pretenses.
Maybe I just have a weird sense of humor.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
The transcript for this video was a little late, but it's up now.
I would call the attempt at stripping the rights of people to that freedom of association and speech using such a group to be hypocritical, not ironic. And I say the same thing about Move To Amend, where the specific goal is to remove the right to free speech from people they disagree with using the same tactics they allegedly disagree with.
There's a Hide/Show transcript button just below the video.
who the fuck are you and why should i care?
There's a Hide/Show transcript button just below the video.
That is not particularly useful, though. The Hide/Show transcript button displays the transcript in real-time, with the video. I can't search the text of it, and I can't go through it more quickly with my own eyes than the speed that the people in the video are speaking.
In other words, it is mostly a waste of time. It takes the same amount of time to watch a video with transcript as it does without.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
So, not only did he dodge the hard questions (about the difficulty of getting money out of politics without silencing people who want to spread a message), he did it in the least accessible way!
Transcript?
Information theory is life. The rest is just the KL divergence.
Absolute nonsense! The voters voluntarily hand it to them on a silver platter. The power to render the money useless lies in your votes, not in legislation that will inevitably be corrupted by the same politicians that are owned. From their point of view, there is no reason to change anything. The present system has its rewards, and the voters are the only ones that can change that, but only if they desire it. Legislation is not a slippery slope, it's a cliff, and the lemmings are heading right for it.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
That is not particularly useful, though. The Hide/Show transcript button displays the transcript in real-time, with the video
No it doesn't. It displays this:
Tim: Larry, one of our readers has asked: What do you think if you reach all the goals that you have right now for the Mayday PAC, what will prevent lawmakers from finding other loopholes in laws that do something that’s similar but not quite the same as campaign contributions. We’ve seen it with FISA and DMCA that people can’t necessarily get some sort of legislative advantage—they’ll try it again and try it again the next year. So if you get rid of all corporate money in government, do you think that’s the only avenue for undue influence? What is the answer to someone who says that this isn’t enough to really remove that sort of influence in government?
Larry: So there is an idea good enough for government work that I think we need to embrace and understand. It is a standard way below the standard of typical technologists. It is a standard that’s hard for, I think, technologists to accept—but here’s the idea: If we change the way elections are funded, we will give Congress a chance to actually think of something other than what the big funders care about, when they make a decision. Now they could still make the wrong decision—they could still make a stupid decision. They can still make a completely biased or ill-informed decision. There is no guarantee that this creates good government. But what it does do is give them the freedom, ‘the freedom to lead’, as Buddy Roemer used to say. Because they are no longer focused on what this tiny tiny fraction of the 1% care about. So nothing we are offering is about perfection. We are offering the first necessary step. To get us out of the pathology that we are in right now.
Tim: Okay. So another critical and this one is a slightly different type of critical questions that a lot of our readers have, and I think this is also widespread, is they object to the idea of regulating the money that can be given to a political campaign, and they say that that is equivalent to speech; one reader asks, and I am going to say that this is somewhat facetiously, that aren’t you in that way, also calling for a prohibition of documentaries of the political bench, or books written by politicians who are in favor of a particular candidate? Distinguish the way money per se as a campaign contribution in that form is different from other forms of material support, and why it is that it is okay to limit contributions to a certain dollar amount for a person or group as opposed to other ways that people influence political campaigns themselves.
Larry: Great question. So the Mayday PAC is aiming at changing the way elections are funded. And the proposals that we pointed to don’t necessarily do anything directly about limiting people’s capacity to spend their money to speak.
Tim: But then we already have such restrictions anyhow with campaign contribution limits.
Larry: Right. But we are not focused on restrictions—we are focused on increasing the range of people who participate in the funding of elections. So there are two basic models that we’ve got: One is the voucher program—you can see it at reform.to—a voucher proposal, where every voter is given a voucher that they use to fund small dollar elections. The other is matching grant where you give a small contribution—it’s matched up to 9:1—that’s John Sarbanes’ proposal. Those two proposals don’t restrict anybody’s ability to contribute anything. Or don’t restrict people’s ability to spend their money speaking at all. All this is doing is making it, so candidates don’t spend all of their time literally 30% to 70% of their time, focused on the tiniest fraction of the 1%. So there are lots of people out there who are talking about much more r
I don't see how their $5 million is even a drop in the bucket compared to the couple billion the big money donors will bring to field in the election. We can't fight them with money.
People make me pro-nuclear.
It would be like turkeys voting for Thanksgiving.
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
The only way to stop Koch brothers and various BribeLaunderingPacs from throwng hundreds of millions of dollars at elections is for it to cease to be cost-effective to do so. The first time money doesn't make a difference, it will no longer be an issue. Free flow of information is a significant step.
300 million "average" people each donating as much as they possibly can afford, cannot even hope to match the BribePac power of a single Walton or Koch.
It is 100% fruitless to attempt to fight them on this arena, the only thing we can hope to do is defeat them with unlimited free press (via the internet)... which is a huge longshot, but at least it isn't mathematically impossible,
Thank you! I must have hit the wrong button, or perhaps it doesn't work correctly on my browser.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
If these celebrities and other chuckleheads really want to fix the government, they should probably start by retaking freshman Civics and learning what sort of government the Constitution sets forth.
To wit - the word "democracy" appears at least 4 times on the main page, but the word "republic" doesn't even appear once.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
You are welcome. Are you using Slashdot Beta? I am on the old one. I tried it in IN, FF, and Chrome and it did the same thing. But somehow it always serves me the old-skool design even though I am not logged-in on 2 of those 3 browsers.
Actually, you need 2/3 of both the House and the Senate, plus 3/4 of the state legislatures. Amending the Constitution ain't easy (intentionally so).
Freedom of assembly. Freedom of speech.
How do you tell a small businessman that others can organize and raise funds to win an election and he can't? How do you make that argument to the NRA or the NAACP? The teacher's union or the EFF?
If a congress can be bribed to make an amendment to the constitution that specifies that money, resources, or commodities cannot be equated to speech, then the verdict of the Supreme Court is nullified by the voices that represent the will of the people.
This is as blatantly corrupt a political argument as I have ever heard expressed.
I don't care whether the voice comes from the right or the left.
I do care when the reformer starts to think that because he has the money and the power, he alone has heard the voice of God --- and that anything he does is perfectly all right.
For those who don't know: At the bottom of every page there's a link from "Beta" to the real Slashdot site.
The title of this post was, "Lawrence Lessig Answers Your Questions...", but what we got in response was a trendy video interview with generalized responses, not the promised (or at least implied by past history) direct responses.
Is this all we can expect from this sort of post in the future? One more nail in Slashdot's coffin.
If we talk about correcting SCOTUS' decision in 2014 using an constitutional amendment, everyone will agree that it can't be done. That's because every single person, whether right or left, has a history of always losing every election they've ever participated in. You might be a conservative, but then even when you "win" you find out you ended up being represented be a Republican (eww!!). You might be a progressive, but then even your sweetest memories are the horrific bitterness of the time that some Democrat ended up representing you. You have never in your life known victory, and even grandparents sound a little evasive and unhappy when they talk about the good old days, when their guy won an election in nineteen sixty-whatever.
But if you had a PAC to make your speech come with some money, you just might win your first election. Maybe you voted on the single issue of campaign reform, and you lost a little ground on some other things, but it's not like you really had a chance of winning ground on those other things. Here you are, with the first kill painted on the side of your plane, and now your grandparents are looking at you with .. what is that? ENVY?!
Suppose you go into 2015 or 2017 which a really "holy shit, we can actually do this" memory fresh in your mind. Is amending the constitution still unwinnable, or might you finally have some confidence and therefore actually TRY? Because I sure don't see anyone trying right now, and I totally understand why no one does. The prison is in our minds, but it's nevertheless real, too. This is a way out.
Discussing problems/differences for the US versus other governments in the world Larry says:
"Larry: Well, most other mature democracies are different in two really important ways: 1) They are parliaments. 2) They don’t have a First Amendment the way we do. Because they are parliaments, elections are not regular. So there is not a permanent campaign, there is a time when they govern, and the majority party actually can govern, and then there is an election. The election could be six weeks or two months or something like that. That’s a really important difference. And number two, no other country has interpreted their free speech provision to be as restrictive as our Supreme Court has interpreted ours." ....
The key part being: "...no other country has interpreted their free speech provision to be as restrictive as our Supreme Court has interpreted ours."...
I don't think the SCOTUS has taken a restrictive 1st amendment view, it seems more expansive that most other countries.
I am intrigued by the voucher idea. I'll need to think about it some more before I decided to commit. I like the thinking of getting the FEC out of how the money is spent and moving it directly to the people to decide where it goes. That part makes some sense to me as result, and is the type of innovative thinking with a market push on it.
The campaign all the time didn't always exist in the US. I'm 54 and can remember when candidates didn't run start running 2 years or more before an election. This chagne started with Jimmy Carter's run for the president where he started early, and is fueled by 24 hour news cycles among others. The money has gotten worse because government is so big, everybody is fighting over what it spends money on and how it regulates everything. It used to be government wasn't so big so that if they messed up they mostly left you alone, not you cannot escape so no wonder we are fighting about everything all the time.
In the 1970s there were a bunch of laws passed that supposedly were going to greatly limit the influence of big money in elections. They all totally failed. So now you are going to try it again. "This time it's different."
It's not true that "big money is stealing our democracy." We never had democracy. If we did there wouldn't be any big money. Also--if the problem is big money, then countries where elections are publicly financed should have "better" governments. Name one.
Why do people use a video these days rather than just typing answers? Moving pictures of Larry's face jabbering don't add much to the proceedings and frankly, I can read answers a lot more quickly than it takes to listen to a video. And, if I happen to be in my office, I can read a transcript without disturbing others.
Sorry, but this is really a pet peeve. If you don't have a visually dynamic presentation of information that can't be conveyed any other way, video takes more bandwidth and adds little. So why do you do it? To look hip? It doesn't work.
That is all.
Have you ever taken the time to watch the American House of Representatives vs. the British House of Commons? There is a real stunning difference in the nature of politics between the two countries. Here in the USA, our politicians talk about the interest of the folks who contribute to their campaigns. In England, they member of parliament talk about the concerns of their constituents. Larry Lessig is right. This is a reasonable first step to try and change the conversation. But it really takes more than just a PAC. It takes reaching out to Americans and convincing them to care about the state of politics in America. This requires a huge cultural shift. I don't get the sense that most of my fellow Americans understand the built in, intrinsic corruption in our democratic republic. IMHO, I've seen my fellow citizens consistently vote against their own interest. Beyond that, the gerrymandering of districts has created horrible distortions to our representation. Urban centers are under-represented politically. Beyond the apathy to politics, most Americans also have very little comprehension of all of the great things that the government of the USA does. Every aspect of American life is bolstered in unexpected and novel ways by the various branches of the federal government. It's easy to complain about the apparent fraud waste & abuse, but as that complaint is voiced, what is not voiced are the clever ways that the federal government has often empowered it's own citizens through education, housing, poverty assistance, regulation, research, military expenditures, justice, etc. Most folks who are upset with "run away federal intrusion" don't realize that they owe a good portion of their well being to government programs and activities. I'm not saying that the government is perfect. Horrible errors, abuse, and mistakes do happen. But let's not throw out the baby with the bath water. Before you get to deep into criticizing the size of the federal government, realize that clever programs have helped keep your children vaccinated, educated, and housed, without you even realizing that you are a beneficiary of the government. Here's a great example: The federal government provides FHA mortgage insurance for low income families. Traditionally, commercial mortgage insurers have refused to provide mortgage insurance to these low income families. It turns out that FHA mortgage insurance created a much larger market for mortgage insurance, making it easier for every american to get mortgage insurance. That mortgage insurance has made it easier for any american to buy a house, since it makes it easier to get a mortgage. If you or your parents have ever owned a home with a mortgage, you owe the government some thanks, even if you don't know it. That's just one aspect of your life.
I just looked at it again and realized that I missed that button (a text link in my version of FF) entirely. When you mentioned it as a button I was thinking of the youtube button of the same function (which is often something of a random gibberish generator).
Thank you
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
I stand corrected. You're right of course, 3/4 are still required to actually pass the amendment.
"Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem." -- Jefferson
This party has for OVER TEN YEARS committed to NOT TAKING CORPORATE MONEY! And this PAC is just another group claiming to be neutral but ultimately will sort through Democrats for the elections. Credo, MOVEon, Emily's List, all claim to look for progressive candidates. The GREEN Party is FULL of PROGRESSIVE candidates. We shall see if any of your 5 choices are from the Green party.
Whereas we the people are created equal, and whereas we the people are endowed with certain inalienable rights, and whereas we the people instituted a government to secure these rights, and whereas we the people lay the foundation on such principles, and organize its power in such form, as to us shall seem most likely to effect the above objective, do require the following Bill of Rights for Voting Equality. 1. Each citizen of the United States at or exceeding the age of majority has the right to vote in any public election in the jurisdiction where he or she resides. That right shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, any State, agreement, person, or entity. After incarceration all rights shall resume. 2. a) All citizens of the United States, residing in all states, shall have equal access, (the same requirements), to creating a political party and achieving a ballot line. b) All candidates and parties shall have equal time constraints to qualify for ballot access. c) All proofs will be received by a multi-partisan regulatory board, such as the Board of Elections. d) All citizens that desire to be candidates, shall register at their local Board of Elections. e) The Board of Elections shall divide equally, the campaign tools for election purposes. All tools must be properly labeled as citizen provided. f) Elections shall be publicly funded. No private money may be used for a public office, or seat in the government. The citizen must have full confidence that no bribery or appearance of bribery is taking place. 3. The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall elect Senators and Representatives in the Congress in such number and such manner as it would be entitled if it were a State. 4. All citizens must be able to verify that the vote has been counted accurately. All ballots must be counted by hand. All counting must be supervised by multi-partisan personnel and recorded. 5. a) There shall be at least one Representative to each Thirty Thousand citizens, per state. b) Each state shall divide its population by 30,000 to determine its number of representatives. c) Each Representative shall have the voting power equal to the number of citizens that voted for them. d) Congress shall be unicameral, and the Senate shall be dissolved. 6. All citizens shall have equal early voting hours in which to cast their vote. sufficient voting places, materials, and personnel shall be provided to reduce the voting time to within an hour. 7. The Presidential/Vice-Presidential election shall be counted by (score or approval) counting. If you would like to read the reasons behind each rule go here instead. https://www.facebook.com/group...
Are the Soros, Buffets, and Gates a part of the American Legislative Exchange Council? because I think that group is unconstitutional,and any legislators that get their bills from them should lose their office. Left or Right.
Whereas we the people are created equal, and whereas we the people are endowed with certain inalienable rights, and whereas we the people instituted a government to secure these rights, and whereas we the people lay the foundation on such principles, and organize its power in such form, as to us shall seem most likely to effect the above objective, do require the following Bill of Rights for Voting Equality.
1. Each citizen of the United States at or exceeding the age of majority has the right to vote in any public election in the jurisdiction where he or she resides. That right shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, any State, agreement, person, or entity. After incarceration all rights shall resume.
2. a) All citizens of the United States, residing in all states, shall have equal access, (the same requirements), to creating a political party and achieving a ballot line. b) All candidates and parties shall have equal time constraints to qualify for ballot access. c) All proofs will be received by a multi-partisan regulatory board, such as the Board of Elections. d) All citizens that desire to be candidates, shall register at their local Board of Elections. e) The Board of Elections shall divide equally, the campaign tools for election purposes. All tools must be properly labeled as citizen provided. f) Elections shall be publicly funded. No private money may be used for a public office, or seat in the government. The citizen must have full confidence that no bribery or appearance of bribery is taking place.
3. The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall elect Senators and Representatives in the Congress in such number and such manner as it would be entitled if it were a State.
4. All citizens must be able to verify that the vote has been counted accurately. All ballots must be counted by hand. All counting must be supervised by multi-partisan personnel and recorded.
5. a) There shall be at least one Representative to each Thirty Thousand citizens, per state. b) Each state shall divide its population by 30,000 to determine its number of representatives. c) Each Representative shall have the voting power equal to the number of citizens that voted for them. d) Congress shall be unicameral, and the Senate shall be dissolved.
6. All citizens shall have equal early voting hours in which to cast their vote. sufficient voting places, materials, and personnel shall be provided to reduce the voting time to within an hour.
7. The Presidential/Vice-Presidential election shall be counted by (score or approval) counting.
If you would like to read the reasons behind each rule go here instead. https://www.facebook.com/group...