Kinja reply list

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AdjraHamilton Nolan
8/11/15 1:41pm
Umm, yeah. Let’s hope someone picks up his idea because voting for/electing this guy would not really be the best idea. From Mother Jones:

“His platform consists of one item—the “Citizens Equality Act of 2017,” which is sort of an omnibus bill of progressive wish-list items. It would make election day a national holiday, protect the right to vote, abolish political gerrymandering, and limit campaign contributions to small-dollar “vouchers” and public financing. After Congress passes his bill, Lessig says he’ll resign.”
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  Burner BurningtonAdjra
  8/11/15 2:03pm
  It sounds like he’s committed to a full 8 years in office...
  
  That just makes me want to vote for a Lessig/Sanders ticket. Bernie can take over in the unlikely event that Congress does something minimally decent.
  
  Of course, he’s running to raise the issue.
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  BlackLadyBugAdjra
  8/11/15 2:06pm
  So he’ll never resign? I can’t see them actually ever passing this bill.
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brillowHamilton Nolan
8/11/15 1:46pm
The most interesting part of this is that he wants to run as a “referendum candidate”. Meaning, he will run only on this issue and then use all his power as president to make it happen, and then resign, letting his VP then be president. He calls this a “hack” of the system essentially creating a national referendum via the presidential election. The advantage being he can focus on a single issue which will give him an advantage in an election.

The idea is really dumb. There’s no reason to think there’s an advantage to a single issue, in fact, it makes it easy to marginalize him (even though the issue is important). You could just say “This guy is willing to ‘hack’ with the Office of the Presidency because he doesn’t take it seriously.”

The main reason it’s dumb though is because since the VP will be his running mate, its the VP who we will actually focus on in the election. Do we want this guy to be president? And if he’s Lessig’s running mate, doesn’t he want finance reform too? If so, why don’t we just elect him to be full-time president? Also, as was brought up recently (though I can’t find where I read this), replacing a VP requires the approval of congress, and its not clear how that would go if it was a Congress controlled by the opposing party, seems like it’s likely to be a fiasco unless one party has both branches.

I’m actually pretty surprised he’s proposing this rather dumb idea. If the VP-system worked another way it might, but otherwise his candidacy would just reduce to his VP being the one voted on for president. I mean, I’m all for protest candidates, but this scheme just makes it seem silly.
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  Orlandu7brillow
  8/11/15 1:58pm
  You’re way overthinking this. He’s obviously just doing this to bring attention to the issue in the hopes that Hillary will adopt his proposals, not because he has any intention or chance of actually winning. He won’t break 5% in any state.
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  Paul Dimitrovbrillow
  8/11/15 4:31pm
  Agreed. A “referendum” candidate would only work if Lessig’s hypothetical resignation would trigger a new presidential election. As is, it’s not workable.
  
  That said, he’s really just trying to get electoral reform on the table...our plutocratic overlords do not want the verifiable fact of “we don’t really live in a democracy” becoming part of the zeitgeist.
  
  Kudos to Lessig for keeping up the pressure to make this an issue.
  
  Not that we’ll see real reform. The inevitable election season will consist of (1) a barrage of Republican non-issues (abortion, etc.) designed to divert attention from real issues, and (2) a host of promises regarding election reform from future president Rodham Clinton which, post-inauguration, will be immediately thrown into the garbage and forgotten.
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tzimtzum does not existHamilton Nolan
8/11/15 1:38pm
PAPPY O’DANIEL 2016

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  Cam/rontzimtzum does not exist
  8/11/15 2:00pm
  I’m getting more of Scott Adams vibe:
  
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  GregoireCam/ron
  8/11/15 2:09pm
  He looks like the Tootsie-Pop owl. Who I would vote for President of course.
  
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I used to own a Jetstar1Hamilton Nolan
8/11/15 1:46pm
In a perfect world, these are people we would be voting for. Intellectuals, academics. Instead we Hillary, Trump and Hucklebees.
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  amgarreI used to own a Jetstar1
  8/11/15 2:30pm
  No. This is the gig. You have to inspire people to lead. Politics isn’t perfect. But I do think that people who shut themselves in ivory towers aren’t always the best at knowing what works for the mass of people. Some intellectuals to, of course. But no, I wouldn’t want a philosopher-king as leader in a free society. As messy as it is sometimes, our process works. We got Obama, didn’t we?
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  I used to own a Jetstar1amgarre
  8/11/15 2:37pm
  So you are happy with the dynastic Bushes and Clintons?
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dothedewHamilton Nolan
8/11/15 1:34pm
Since you don’t mention his party affiliation in the post, based on his platform I am assuming he is running as yet another Republican?
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  e30s2kdothedew
  8/11/15 1:37pm
  Not sure if sarcasm, but he’s running as a Democrat.
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  Philip Damradothedew
  8/11/15 1:37pm
  What on earth would make you come to that conclusion?
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It's Like That AndHamilton Nolan
8/11/15 1:37pm
YES!! As an attorney who studied deeply about IP, I have been following him for years now. Sanders/Lessig 2016 Bitches!! Smart do-something’s gonna take this country back FOR REAL.

I am overjoyed.
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  Inverse FalconIt's Like That And
  8/11/15 2:51pm
  Sanders/Lessig would be an amazing combo! Kind of excited about that, should it pan out.
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DoctorNineHamilton Nolan
8/11/15 1:38pm
Thanks for bringing this to a wider audience, Hamilton.

http://republic.lessig.org/

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DL ThurstonHamilton Nolan
8/11/15 2:24pm
If we’re going to talk about some kind of “vote-hack” I see this as a more intriguing strategy for a vice presidential candidate. That way you can come into office, hyper-focus on this issue while the president does all the actually-running-the-country bit. Then if you get it done, instead of retiring, you do a victory lap and step aside for the re-election campaign to be replaced by a similar single-issue candidate.
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slythefoxHamilton Nolan
8/11/15 1:33pm
I’m confused... Bernie is our best friend so what are the blacks suppose to do?
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  Fritoslythefox
  8/11/15 1:36pm
  Go vote for the establishment candidate. Have fun w/ 4 or 8 more years of the same nonsense. What could go wrong?
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  pdxwhyslythefox
  8/11/15 1:45pm
  LULZ
  
  Everybody knows we brown/black simply cannot think on our own! Geeze!
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flamingolingoHamilton Nolan
8/11/15 3:04pm
His ideas are great, but running for president is one of the least effective ways to accomplish them (unless he counts getting some lefty bloggers excited about things they already like as an accomplishment).

It’s weird how liberals seem to think such sweeping reforms can happen from the top down when it’s usually the other way around (something Republicans understand perfectly). It’s like we’re hoping for another FDR to come in and kick ass.
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