[1] http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/29nq9p/lawrence_lessig...
Abramoff demonstrated that he would do or say anything to succeed in lobbying. Now that he's a convicted felon, he's doing and saying anything to succeed as a pundit. He's exactly the same person; only the context has changed.
That Lessig takes him seriously makes me think that Lessig is dangerously naive about the system and people he is criticizing.
The entire point of government is to figure out what those statements really mean...
The problem and his strategy are laid out in his (free CC-licensed) book The USA is Lesterland: http://lesterland.lessig.org/ As with all big ideas, that requires a bit more time to digest than a HN comment. Plus, he's a better writer than I am.
The main idea of his PAC is if political bills can only happen in our system with the approval of 'Big Money', you need Big Money to pass the reform that would get rid of Big Money's influence. Hence, you need a PAC that gets involved in specific races and puts pressure on candidates who don't support the changes they're pushing for.
On a more broader level, Lessig is one of the big names in a loose coalition pushing for a constitutional convention that would amend the Constitution to overturn Citizen's United. The neat thing about such a convention is it's a checks-and-balances way that the popular vote can effectively by-pass their congressional representatives. This has happened only once before: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_to_propose_amendment...
This can happen if 2/3's of states agree to participate. California just passed a "we're in" bill a few days ago, joining Vermont. Similar bills are pending in other states: http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/California-seeks-cons...
This is actually one of the few non-partisan issues that both sides can agree on. Well, the constituents of both sides... most representatives hate this idea, which is exactly why you need a well-funded PAC to exert influence onto them.
Anyway, I am one of those rare folks who thinks there's not enough money in politics. Or at least that we shouldn't worry about the money that's already there. The Center for Responsive Politics (a pro-reform group) estimates that total Federal direct election spending reached $6 billion in 2012[1]. Even if "shadowy groups" spent twice that over again (they didn't), that's $18 billion worth of spending to influence the future of a $3.6T government regulating a $15T economy.
To put it another way, $18B is less than half the annual revenue of the Coca Cola company, or only 6x what Americans spend on scented candles every year.
[1] http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2012/10/2012-election-spendi...
What that bill did succeed in doing was put more boundaries in place for less-powerful entities, while ensuring the more-powerful entities can do what they want, via fiat, loophole, secrecy, whatever.
Mission accomplished?!
To your point about there not being enough money in politics: I'd agree with you if money existed in a vacuum for its own sake. The question should arguably be is there enough/too much purchasable influence in politics.
What politician isn't for fixing broken government?
Who is standing up for broken government?
What congress isn't committed to fundamental reform?
Worse, it's often mutually exclusive. In fact, "reform" to some people means ensuring we do not do the things that "reform" means to others.
Consider ... does immigration reform mean?
• keeping families together
• amnesty
• legal worker status
• in-state college tuition for non-citizens
• a fence, wall, drones, troops, sensors
• stopping Mexican troops when they cross the border
• dealing with cartels who vandalize billboards to threaten US officials (plato o plomo)
• ... etc
Many people want some of these things to happen, and want some of these things to not happen. Yet they all want "reform".
The same is true for every "reform" of "broken" government.
If Mayday PAC raises their money (and I hope they do), they will go into 5 House races and attempt to make campaign finance reform the determining factor in how voters choose their representative.
If they succeed, it will ironically demonstrate that Lessig is right about the power of money to shape the mind of the electorate.
But if they spend the money and fail to make campaign finance reform a major voter issue, it will be a demonstration that money is actually not particularly distorting. (I think this is likely; voters typically care a lot more about issues or ideology than process.)
The most annoying aspect of the Mayday PAC coverage is watching tech reporters breathlessly report the most banal aspects of any political campaign, like this:
> Then there's the question of what Mayday PAC will spend its resources on. As a super PAC, the outfit isn't allowed to give directly to campaigns. But it can spend unlimited amounts to promote one candidate over another, or to defend a candidate from attacks. There are even more choices Mayday PAC will have to make. For advertising alone, you can choose from radio ads, TV ads and online ads. You can take out ads on broadcast TV, satellite TV or cable. You can pick the time of day. You can conduct a massive air war that reaches everybody in a market, or you can spend more on selectively targeted ads that simultaneously show one household a 30-second spot tied to gun control and their next-door neighbor an ad linked to healthcare.
No, it would be a demonstration that money, for many voters, may not initially appear distorting. It could also be a demonstration that some voters, like you, are largely apathetic to whether or not a political process is influenced by money.
They'd be in good company, though. The Sunlight Foundation found no correlation between the outside spending in the 2012 federal elections and race outcomes.
Also, isn't 12 million (assuming they raise that much) too small? May be it is a good start.
Not trying to be negative, just trying to understand what their plan is.
Basically they are going to do exactly what everyone has done before because their plan is to do exactly what everyone has done before, which is why they are raising money to get money out of politics, apparently this solution has eluded us for years because no one could raise $2.6 million dollars.
The article title isn't great either. We can change it if someone suggests an accurate, neutral replacement, preferably using language from the article. Usually an article contains a natural such title in its first paragraph, but I don't see one here.
