Lessig2016
-
0:01 - 0:06In 1967, Democratic Senator
Eugene McCarthy entered the Primary, -
0:06 - 0:10here in New Hampshire, to challenge
his own party's sitting President, -
0:10 - 0:16because he feared the most important
moral issue of the time, the Vietnam War, -
0:16 - 0:19was going to be invisible in that election.
-
0:20 - 0:23In four months, McCarthy went
from almost nothing in the polls -
0:23 - 0:26to almost beating Lyndon Johnson
in the Primary. -
0:26 - 0:28And the one issue that no one
wanted to talk about -
0:28 - 0:32became the one issue
that no one could ignore. -
0:33 - 0:37At the core of our democracy,
there is a basic inequality. -
0:38 - 0:41Not the inequality of wealth
-- though that is a problem -- -
0:41 - 0:45or the inequality of speech
-- though some think that a problem too -- -
0:46 - 0:48but the inequality of citizens.
-
0:49 - 0:52Jefferson's truth that
"All are created equal" -
0:52 - 0:56has become Orwell's meme, that
"Some are more equal than others." -
0:57 - 0:59And with this change,
-
0:59 - 1:02the core commitment
of a representative democracy -
1:02 - 1:03has been lost.
-
1:09 - 1:12This inequality shows itself
in a thousand ways. -
1:12 - 1:16It's why we must even say:
"Black lives matter." -
1:16 - 1:19It's why Congress
bends over backwards -
1:19 - 1:21to benefit those
who fund their campaigns. -
1:21 - 1:26It's why a huge proportion of us
don't waste our time voting. -
1:26 - 1:29It's why the system,
as Elisabeth Warren puts it, -
1:29 - 1:31is rigged.
-
1:31 - 1:35Rigged to block reforms that
most Americans would benefit from, -
1:35 - 1:37rigged to help the very few:
-
1:37 - 1:41those with the money
to fund the politicians' campaigns. -
1:47 - 1:53We need to challenge this rigged system
like MacCarthy challenged the war. -
1:53 - 1:56We need to make fixing it
the first priority -
1:56 - 1:58of the next President
and next Congress, -
1:59 - 2:04because until it is fixed,
no sensible reform is even possible. -
2:05 - 2:10Yet though every major candidate in
the Democratic Primary for President -
2:10 - 2:11has acknowledged this corruption,
-
2:12 - 2:16so far every one of them
just puts it to one side, -
2:16 - 2:19as if without fixing
the rigged system first, -
2:19 - 2:21we could get
climate change legislation -
2:21 - 2:23or sane limits on guns;
-
2:23 - 2:27as if without changing the way
campaigns are funded first, -
2:27 - 2:28we could reform Wall Street,
-
2:28 - 2:30or take on the insurance companies;
-
2:30 - 2:33as if this corruption
were just a detail, -
2:33 - 2:36something to be solved
"in the long run"; -
2:37 - 2:40as if fixing democracy
by achieving equality -
2:40 - 2:43were something that could just wait.
-
2:43 - 2:45It can't wait.
-
2:46 - 2:48This must end now.
-
2:48 - 2:52We need a campaign that's more
than yet another partisan squabble. -
2:53 - 2:56We need a campaign
for a referendum, -
2:56 - 3:00a referendum that speaks
our mandate clearly, -
3:00 - 3:02ends this inequality
and corruption, -
3:02 - 3:05give us a government
free from the money, -
3:05 - 3:07give us a Congress
free to lead. -
3:10 - 3:12So here is the idea
we're going to test: -
3:13 - 3:14a Referendum President,
-
3:15 - 3:18a candidate who runs for President
making a single promise, -
3:19 - 3:22that if elected, he would serve
as long as it takes -
3:22 - 3:24-- but only as long as it takes --
-
3:24 - 3:29to pass fundamental reform
to finally achieve citizen equality. -
3:29 - 3:33Once that reform is passed,
this President would step down -
3:33 - 3:36and the elected Vice-President
would become President -
3:36 - 3:37to fill out his term.
-
3:37 - 3:40The candidate is the referendum.
-
3:40 - 3:43The campaign is for
that referendum. -
3:46 - 3:47So I am asking you
-
3:47 - 3:52to help me crowdfund a campaign
for a Referendum President, -
3:52 - 3:55so we can give the next
extraordinary President -
3:55 - 3:59-- whether Hillary or Bernie or Joe
or someone else -- -
3:59 - 4:04a Congress that can represent us
and a Congress that is free to lead. -
4:04 - 4:06And if we hit our funding target
-
4:06 - 4:09and the leading candidates
in the Democratic Primary -
4:09 - 4:12do not commit to making
this fundamental reform -
4:12 - 4:15the first priority
of their administration, -
4:15 - 4:19then I will enter the race
as a Referendum candidate. -
4:19 - 4:23I would tie every issue
in the campaign -
4:23 - 4:25-- from climate change
to student debt -- -
4:25 - 4:27to this fundamental corruption.
-
4:27 - 4:31I would make citizen equality
central to this election. -
4:31 - 4:33And if this referendum won,
-
4:33 - 4:38its mandate would be as powerful
as any that's possible -
4:38 - 4:39within our political system.
-
4:40 - 4:44This would be the clearest
peaceful rally for equal democracy -
4:44 - 4:45in our lifetime.
-
4:50 - 4:52This won't be easy, I get it.
-
4:52 - 4:55And no doubt, there should be
someone better than me. -
4:56 - 4:57I have tried to recruit them
-
4:57 - 5:01and if someone better known
credibly commits to making this run, -
5:01 - 5:03I would happily step aside.
-
5:03 - 5:08This campaign is not about a person,
it's about a principle, -
5:08 - 5:12an American principle
that we must reclaim: -
5:12 - 5:14that all are created equal
-
5:14 - 5:17and that a Democracy must
respect us all as equals. -
5:18 - 5:22Please give whatever you can
and more importantly, -
5:22 - 5:24please share this as broadly
as you can, -
5:24 - 5:28because with the Net,
we can change this election, -
5:28 - 5:33and if we do, we will change every
election that comes afterwards as well. -
5:33 - 5:37This is our shot to make
democracy possible. -
5:38 - 5:40We need to take it now.
-
5:41 - 5:55[music]
- Title:
- Lessig2016
- Description:
-
YouTube description
Published on Aug 10, 2015
82% of Americans believe the system is rigged. Before we listen to more politicians’ promises, we must find a way to un-rig that rigged system. Here is our plan. https://lessigforpresident.com/the-plan/
There is one issue we must address first in the 2016 election…
Four years ago, Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks told Netroots Nation, “There is only one issue in this country,” and he was referring to the corrupt funding of public elections.
That corruption is part of a more fundamental inequality that we’ve allowed the politicians to create: we don’t have a Congress that represents us equally.
Every issue — from climate change to gun safety, from Wall Street reform to defense spending — is tied to this “one issue.” Achieving citizens equality in America is our one mission.
A Plan to Restore Citizen Equality
Step 1. First, we need to raise enough to mount a credible campaign in the Democratic Presidential Primary. We’re doing that in the Internet way: kickstarting a campaign, with a goal we must hit to keep the money that’s been pledged. If we hit that goal, then Lessig will run.
Step 2. With funding in place to run a real campaign, Lessig will dedicate himself full-time to running for president. He’ll focus on the early Presidential Primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, but also travel across country to press for citizen equality. If he garner 1% in three national polls in the weeks leading up to the debates, he will appear alongside the other Democratic candidates for the nationally televised Presidential debates.
Step 3. Lessig will make fixing this corrupt system by achieving citizen equality the central issue in the Democratic Primary debates. If he can win those debates, rise in the polls, and win either the New Hampshire Primary or the Iowa Caucuses, then he will be one of the top candidates running for President. Even if he doesn’t win, his participation in the Democratic debates gives us the chance to connect our system of corrupted equality to every issue that matters. We can make the politicians face this truth, and give us a way to fix it.
Step 4. Once sworn into office as the President, Lessig will use every power of the office - and the mandate of the election - to get Congress to pass the Equal Citizens Act of 2017 9https://lessigforpresident.com/the-act/). When it does, he will sign it, and submit his letter of resignation on the same day. After he resigns, the Vice President will become President, and we will have taken the most important step toward a Congress that is free to represent us since Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence.
One Mission: https://lessigforpresident.com/one-mission
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- Captions Requested
- Duration:
- 05:56
Claude Almansi commented on English subtitles for Lessig2016 | ||
Claude Almansi edited English subtitles for Lessig2016 | ||
koopaloop edited English subtitles for Lessig2016 | ||
Claude Almansi edited English subtitles for Lessig2016 | ||
Claude Almansi edited English subtitles for Lessig2016 |
Claude Almansi
Thank you so much for the syncing, koopaloop . In Revision 4, I only added the present YouTube description.
Best,
Claude