Lessig Equal Citizens Exploratory Committee

"The Citize Equality Act of 2017" >

2:37 video from August 11, 2015.   [a, b, c]











The core problem in America's democracy is a problem of equality, and as president, as the first referendum president, I would serve until Congress passed a statute to fix this rigged system and to end this inequality.

The Citizen Equality Act of 2017 should have three critical parts.

First it should assure the equal freedom to vote.  Congress would secure that freedom as a fundamental right, it would require that freedom be protected against discriminatory barriers, it would require states to assure that all had a meaningul equal freedom to participate in voting, it would make states make voting easy by moving Election Day to a national holiday.

Second, the Citizen Equality Act should assure equal representation in Congress. Political gerrymandering would finally come to an end.  No longer would the politicians pick their voters, and a system of fair and proportional representation of all of us would replace it.

And third, and most important to me, the Citizen Equality Act should secure a Congress whose campaigns are financially dependent not on the very few but on all of us, replacing crony funding of campaigns with funding by citizens through small dollar vouchers or matching funds.

    TEXT: This legislation has been crafted from the work of reformers across the political spectrum

Each of these parts would be based on existing proposals for reform.  We're not re-inventing the wheel; we're pulling together a package that together would create a meaningful political equality for all of America's citizens.

That commitment to equality should not be controversial in America, or if it is then let's have that fight on these terms.  Let us defend the idea of equal citizens and let those who oppose it explain why they're against it.

More than 225 years ago we were promised a Congress, quote, dependent on the people alone, where by the people Madison promised, they meant not the rich more than the poor.

It's time we have that democracy.  It's way past time.  Let's create it.

 

Notes: This is one of videos Larry Lessig used to launch his exploratory committee. [a, b, c]