Transcript for Larry Lessig Announces He is Running for President

sitting in a jail, that's just absurd as well. I think she should follow the law. Governor kasich, thank you for your time. All right, thank you, George. Time to the newest and most unusual candidate for president this year.y who can land the plane. That's what the whole panel needs to understand. At the end of the day, they're going to want somebody who can actually get the job done. For me, balancing the federal budget, turning Ohio around. Defense experience. And look, I'm just being myself. I'm having a great time on the campaign trail. Meeting a lot of people and it's great. What happens to that energy?an primary voters who say they want somebody without government experience in some top national polls, what is that about? How do you counter it? George, when I'm in new Hampshire or Iowa or south Carolina, wherever I go, we're getting very big crowds now in New Hampshire on a comparative basis. I think you listen to what people want. My father, a caring male, I have come from a blue-collar community as a boy Campaign finance reform. Voting rights reform. Also dealing with political gerrymeandering. And you're saying, if you run, you are running, if you win, if you become president and you pass that platform, you'll resign? That's right. Because what we need is a focus that would cut across partisan lines, achieve this fix to the corruptive system. Fix the democracy first. The only way I could have this mandate is that this is the thing that ran on. You get into Washington and everyone thinks your mandate is one of this and is one of that. That puts a lot of weight on who your vice president is. You're putting an online poll up there right now. It puts so much weight on that. Who will be your vice president? And can you really trust that that person will carry out your age agenda? I'm absolutely sure we can trust. The vice president has to be consistent with the values of the democratic party. I'm very much committed to have candidate that can excite the base. A stage in the debate right now, we're talking about something other than the horse race between democrats and republicans. Where we can have an argument about a principle that in fact most Americans agree with, there's no strong standard in America that we shouldn't have equal citizens in America. It's okay that the tiniest fraction, 400 families have given half the money in the cycle so far. Some of your critics say this is just a stunt. You have been compared to Donald Trump and your effort is absurd. Here's what he said. Stymied by republicans not democrats. Why not direct his energies where his opposition resides? All of the current democratic presidential candidates support the thrust of these reforms, but saying that this is their highest priority is likely to harm not boost their candidates and their efforts. None of them are day one candidates. None of them are saying this is what I'm going to do on day one. Changes I love even credible. Now Thomas Mann said I'm dumbing down the debate by not electing democrats. I think we have had enough. Of that kind of partisan framing of how to fix American politics. I'm a democrat. Rather than dumbing down the debate, we have to elevate the debate. That will fix this democracy and make it possible for the government to actually do something without fear of what the funders want them to do. A supporter of president Obama could say, wait a minute, it didn't prevent dodd-frank from being implemented? All kind of reforms over the last four years. They could say that. You have to remember, when health care was passed we had a supermajority in the senate and the house. Health care had to make important compromises. Drug prices his name is Lawrence leg, a Ro to op up the tenet. This mning, hionline caaign TOPD the $1,000. It'sack by aromise N caidate haever madbefore. If he passes that platform he'll resign and turn over power to his vice president, professor Lessig, welcome. I'm in. What are you running to do? Well, I think I'm running to get people to acknowledge the elephant in the room, right? We have to recognize that we have a government that doesn't work. The stalemate partisan platform of American politics in Washington right now doesn't work, and we have to find a way to elevate the debate to focus on the changes that would actually get us a government that could work again, that's no ptt ca burede Y thestinit fraction of the 1% who fund the

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