Larry Lessig to the stage
(laughing) sounds like larry has some fans
Larry is an American academic attorney
and political activist
He is the Roy L Furman professor of law
at Harvard Law School
and a former Director of the Edmund J.
...excuse me...
...Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University
Lessig is a proponent of reduced legal restrictions
on copyright, trademark, and radio frequency spectrum
particularly in technology applications.
he founded Creative Commons, a non profit organization
devoted to expanding the range of creative work available
for others to build upon and to legal, share legally.
as a political activist, Lessig has called for
state-based activism
to promote substantive reform of government
with a second Constituional Convention
In May of 2014, he launched
a crowdfunded politcal action commitee
which he termed Mayday PAC
with the purpose of electing candidates to congress
who would pass campaign reform finance.
That is a must. We've got to get money
out of politics.
Lessig is also the cofounder of Rootstrikers
and is on the boards of
MapLight
and Represent.us
We'd like to welcome Larry Lessig.
[applause]
So this—this is extraordinary.
This is extraordinary.
We're here ...
... cause we’re gonna walk.
Which is extraordinarily appropriate because,
when evolution gave us her greatest gift,
she told us to stand up.
And then, when humanity
gave us her greatest gift,
she told us to govern yourself, goddammit.
And govern yourself through something called
a Democracy.
Now, at the core of the ideal of a Democracy
is a simple word: ...
... equality.
Equality.
When Madison punted around in that building
convincing people to sign on to a Constitution,
at the core of his ideal was a Democracy that
would be responsive to people with this ideal
of equality.
He said we would have a congress dependent
on the people alone. And then he said, the
people by the people—I mean quote “…not
the rich more than the poor.”
Now I wish he had said “Not whites more
than blacks” and “Not men more than women.”
But we take what we can get, right? We get
the equality of not rich more than the poor.
Now here’s the fact: In the last twenty
years, we’ve allowed that ideal to be radically
corrupted. Radically corrupted so that we
have today nothing like the representative
democracy that they promised us. Nothing like
the ideal of a democracy where we we are all
equal.
Money and politics is one part, but not the
only part.
When we draw districts to exclude 89-million
people, to render them irrelevant because
they happen to be minorities in “safe seats”
across the country—that’s not Democracy.
[crowd: "No"]
When we suppress the free and equal opportunity
of people to vote based on the color of their
skin or the party they happen to be in—that
is not Democracy.
[crowd: "Noo"]
We have got to fight to get this ideal at
the core of our Democracy again
—the idealof equality.
[cheers, applause....]
So we walk.
And we walk as citizens. Because, as easy
as it is to believe that we can find our candidate,
and elect our candidate, and our candidate
will solve the problem, it’s not the way
the revolution will happen.
If this is not
hard, if it doesn’t feel hard,
that’s not the way a revolution will happen. It’s
got to be something that we, as the people, do.
We cannot believe that we can elect Superman
or Superwoman, and they go to Washington and
solve the problem, because Washington is krypton.
When they enter, their powers disappear.
Their powers are with us! All of us!
As Democrats and Republicans, all of us!
And we have to find a way
to unite all of us as citizens.
Citizens who demand the equality
that we were promised.
So we walk.
We walk with love for our country.
To honor our grannys and our sons.
We walk for an end to corruption.
‘Till the will of the people be done.
Thank you, very much.
[applause cheers]
Thank you Larry that ...
