Comments on: Lessig for Congress? http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/ Ramblings on software, law, and the spaces in between. Sun, 12 Feb 2012 11:08:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Luis http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/comment-page-1/#comment-26416 Luis Fri, 15 Feb 2008 23:02:28 +0000 http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/#comment-26416 Look, Lessig's not perfect. There are many reasons to think he'd be a bad Congressman. And the potential challenger may be a very good choice. But... Joe, your reasons for attacking him are just plain dumb. He's made it very clear that his corruption thing has very little to do with earmarks; it goes much deeper and is much more substantive than that. And before he was a 'cyberlaw' guy, he was a very respected constitutional law theorist. If your prime issue is abuse of the constitution (which is, I agree, very important), I could think of few people who are more familiar with the issue and who'd be more likely to stick to actual principles instead of vapid politics masquerading as constitutional issues. So... sure. Possibly this is a bad idea. But that is not why. Look, Lessig’s not perfect. There are many reasons to think he’d be a bad Congressman. And the potential challenger may be a very good choice. But… Joe, your reasons for attacking him are just plain dumb. He’s made it very clear that his corruption thing has very little to do with earmarks; it goes much deeper and is much more substantive than that. And before he was a ‘cyberlaw’ guy, he was a very respected constitutional law theorist. If your prime issue is abuse of the constitution (which is, I agree, very important), I could think of few people who are more familiar with the issue and who’d be more likely to stick to actual principles instead of vapid politics masquerading as constitutional issues.

So… sure. Possibly this is a bad idea. But that is not why.

]]> By: Free Culture « Broken Spines http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/comment-page-1/#comment-26415 Free Culture « Broken Spines Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:24:29 +0000 http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/#comment-26415 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] Maybe. [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%--> Kramer auto Pingback[...] Maybe. [...]

]]> By: Don Marti http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/comment-page-1/#comment-26413 Don Marti Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:01:25 +0000 http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/#comment-26413 Earmarks are the tip of the corruption iceberg. Many, much larger, of Congress' decisons are based on corporate welfare: the DMCA, sugar quotas, the energy bill, tax policy. Voting down or vetoing earmarks is a sideshow. The master plan, of course is: Google finally gets serious about click fraud and web spam, and hires 30,000 of the top-rated Slashdot moderators to staff "abuse@google.com" at a new green office park in North Dakota. All those new ND nerd voters organize the Cowboy Neal party, and elect Lessig and Prof. Eben Moglen to the Senate. Earmarks are the tip of the corruption iceberg. Many, much larger, of Congress’ decisons are based on corporate welfare: the DMCA, sugar quotas, the energy bill, tax policy. Voting down or vetoing earmarks is a sideshow.

The master plan, of course is: Google finally gets serious about click fraud and web spam, and hires 30,000 of the top-rated Slashdot moderators to staff “abuse@google.com” at a new green office park in North Dakota. All those new ND nerd voters organize the Cowboy Neal party, and elect Lessig and Prof. Eben Moglen to the Senate.

]]> By: Planet http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/comment-page-1/#comment-26412 Planet Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:20:57 +0000 http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/#comment-26412 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] Lessig for Congress? [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%--> Kramer auto Pingback[...] Lessig for Congress? [...]

]]> By: Mike Dolan http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/comment-page-1/#comment-26411 Mike Dolan Fri, 15 Feb 2008 17:45:31 +0000 http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/#comment-26411 I'd vote for Lessig - no question. I think the US population has no clue what the IP implications are in the future competitive landscape that we're about to see and they're certainly not prone to elect those who do. I'd love to see Lessig shakeup Washington a bit (or byte). I’d vote for Lessig – no question. I think the US population has no clue what the IP implications are in the future competitive landscape that we’re about to see and they’re certainly not prone to elect those who do. I’d love to see Lessig shakeup Washington a bit (or byte).

]]> By: Karl Jonsson’s Weblog » Lessig bli politiker? http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/comment-page-1/#comment-26410 Karl Jonsson’s Weblog » Lessig bli politiker? Fri, 15 Feb 2008 17:44:53 +0000 http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/#comment-26410 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] Luis Villa och Slashdot läser jag att det ryktas om att Lawrence Lessig ska ställa upp i ett fyllnadsval [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%--> Kramer auto Pingback[...] Luis Villa och Slashdot läser jag att det ryktas om att Lawrence Lessig ska ställa upp i ett fyllnadsval [...]

]]> By: Vote for Lawrence Lessig? - Seasoned Gamers http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/comment-page-1/#comment-26409 Vote for Lawrence Lessig? - Seasoned Gamers Fri, 15 Feb 2008 17:26:11 +0000 http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/#comment-26409 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] of Silicon Valley.People are speculating that Lawrence Lessig could decide to run for that seat:http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/Lawrence Lessig is a Stanford University Professor who has fought against content providers on [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%--> Kramer auto Pingback[...] of Silicon Valley.People are speculating that Lawrence Lessig could decide to run for that seat:http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/Lawrence Lessig is a Stanford University Professor who has fought against content providers on [...]

]]> By: Joe Buck http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/comment-page-1/#comment-26408 Joe Buck Fri, 15 Feb 2008 17:17:12 +0000 http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/#comment-26408 I'd rather see Lessig stay where he is. We've already got a strong candidate to replace Lantos: Jackie Speier. Everyone is going on and on now about what a hero Lantos was, but he was an Iraq war hawk as well as an aggressive spewer of threats in Iran's direction, and originally Speier was going to challenge Lantos in the primary, before Lantos announced his retirement because of health problems. Nevertheless, Lantos endorsed Speier as his successor. If you think that the "IP wars" are the only issue, maybe Lessig looks good to you. But we need to save the Constitution, and I haven't seen much from Lessig on that. Sure, Lessig's anti-corruption ethic will make him a leading fighter against earmarks, but if you get rid of earmarks and change nothing else, you just shift more power from Congress to the President (because when the president proposes a budget, we don't call his/her choices earmarks even when they are chosen to benefit friends). Speier was against the war from the beginning and has been a fighter in California for single-payer health care. Unlike Lessig, she has experience running local and state-wide campaigns. Speier started her career as an aide to Rep. Leo Ryan; Ryan was killed and Speier was wounded when they went to Guyana to investigate Jonestown (the mass suicide happened just after the Ryan murder). I’d rather see Lessig stay where he is. We’ve already got a strong candidate to replace Lantos: Jackie Speier. Everyone is going on and on now about what a hero Lantos was, but he was an Iraq war hawk as well as an aggressive spewer of threats in Iran’s direction, and originally Speier was going to challenge Lantos in the primary, before Lantos announced his retirement because of health problems. Nevertheless, Lantos endorsed Speier as his successor.

If you think that the “IP wars” are the only issue, maybe Lessig looks good to you. But we need to save the Constitution, and I haven’t seen much from Lessig on that. Sure, Lessig’s anti-corruption ethic will make him a leading fighter against earmarks, but if you get rid of earmarks and change nothing else, you just shift more power from Congress to the President (because when the president proposes a budget, we don’t call his/her choices earmarks even when they are chosen to benefit friends). Speier was against the war from the beginning and has been a fighter in California for single-payer health care. Unlike Lessig, she has experience running local and state-wide campaigns.

Speier started her career as an aide to Rep. Leo Ryan; Ryan was killed and Speier was wounded when they went to Guyana to investigate Jonestown (the mass suicide happened just after the Ryan murder).

]]> By: Luis http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/comment-page-1/#comment-26406 Luis Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:55:49 +0000 http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/#comment-26406 It's been a long time since a non-judge was named to the court; and longer since a non-judge non-politician was named. Possibly more relevantly, SCOTUS doesn't set their own agenda, to a large extent- and I get the sense Lessig wants to do that. Certainly he's used to setting the agenda at this point :) It’s been a long time since a non-judge was named to the court; and longer since a non-judge non-politician was named. Possibly more relevantly, SCOTUS doesn’t set their own agenda, to a large extent- and I get the sense Lessig wants to do that. Certainly he’s used to setting the agenda at this point :)

]]> By: Uraeus http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/comment-page-1/#comment-26405 Uraeus Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:04:28 +0000 http://tieguy.org/blog/2008/02/15/lessig-for-congress/#comment-26405 Maybe Congress is aiming to low for Lessig. If Obama wins the presidency maybe a supreme court seat could within Lessig's reach. Maybe Congress is aiming to low for Lessig. If Obama wins the presidency maybe a supreme court seat could within Lessig’s reach.

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