Prof. Lawrence Lessig: Run, Warren, Run!

MoveOn.org has recruited another academic talking head to talk-up US Senator Elizabeth Warren to run for President.

I'm Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard professor and the founder of MAYDAY Super PAC—the "SuperPAC to end all SuperPACs"—which many MoveOn members helped launch. I'm writing to you because I want Elizabeth Warren to run for President, and I'm asking you to join me.

The United States has endured an academic in the White House for the past six years. What have we learned? Academics are some of the most ignorant people, and their arrogance heightens their incompetence.

The biggest problems we face—a rigged economy, climate change, the engulfing corruption of our political system by big money—have something in common: If we don't tackle them soon, we won't get another chance. 

A rigged economy? Yes, because of special interests funded by Democratic machine politics, with President Barack "Hope and Change" Obama at the forefront.



Prof Lawrence Lessig (Joi Ito)

It keeps me up at night. 

So, an academic tosses and turns because of climate change? Serious scientists have documented varied changes in weather patterns and temperature for decades, for millennia, even. Lessig is worried about money in politics? What about the global terrorist threats flying out of ISIS? A nuclear Iran? The high cost of health care, only getting higher, in spite of Obamacare? A rogue chief executive who refuses to defend this nation's borders? What about the millions of Americans struggling from month to month without economic opportunity?

But what wakes me up in the morning is another thought: We really do have a chance to win in 2016. If we can elect leaders with the courage and independence to tackle the hard stuff—and build the mega-movement necessary to make sure they actually do it—we could see the kind of progressive sea change that brought the Gilded Age to an end more than a century ago.

Progressive politics brought about the purge of black people from the White House. Progressive war-mongered the United States into the European Great War. "Make the World Safe for Democracy?" Sadly, Wilson's preening made the world safe for dictators to prey on nationalist grievance, and break forth into the Second World War.

Progressives tried to micromanage Big Business, but the anti-trust laws actually strengthened the fascist cord of Big Business and Big Government. Big Labor found legal means to bully individual laborers, small businesses, and entire cities because of progressive policies, too.

After eight years of "progressive" Barack, Americans are searching for something, for someone better.

But honestly? The only way I see this working is if Senator Elizabeth Warren runs for president.

I agree with Lessig's hope. We need Elizabeth Warren to run. She represents the true core of the Democratic Party, and she will drag down the Democratic ticket in full.

That's why—as my next big project—I've joined the Run Warren Run campaign. I'll be giving a major speech in New York on April 20 to lay out the case. But right now, today, I'm asking for your help to supercharge this effort—before conventional wisdom congeals and everyone decides that the 2016 primaries are already over.

The Boston Globe printed four articles in their Sunday edition begging, demanding, insisting that the Senior US Senator run for President.

Look: From everything I know, running for president is really, really hard. Most sane people would hate doing it. So I completely understand why my friend and former colleague has, to date, not shown any interest in doing so. 

The self-imposed arrogance is confusing. Lessig never ran for President. Does he really think that he can understand what Warren would have to go through? Would it really be hard work of a liberal academic? Most of them do not teach more than two classes a year in their respective universities, and they get paid large sums to give empty speeches about progressive policies.

Warren loves to talk, and she loves to be the center of attention. Running for President would not be a hardship for her.

It's just that the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that she should reconsider. 

Yes, Professor, I agree.

We're now facing the prospect of no vigorous Democratic primary, potentially a primary season without even a single debate, generating a nominee who has not had to enlist the support of a genuine grassroots base. That's dangerous—not just for Democrats, but for our democracy. 
Elizabeth Warren would change all of that. Not just because she'd guarantee a primary where every candidate has to take a stand. But because she (and, I believe, she alone) would galvanize the kind of movement that we'll need if the next President of the United States is to have a prayer of tackling the hardest, most urgent crises of our time. 

Wow! Even the liberals don't want Hillary to run. They recognize her as a Establishment shill with no connections to Main Street America. Lessig views a Hillary candidacy as a problem for the Democratic Party and democracy in general.

By the way, Prof, the United States is not a democracy, but a Republic.

The Run Warren Run campaign is doing something extraordinary: By organizing on the ground in the early primary states, it's keeping open the possibility of a Warren candidacy, in a moment when the primary is supposedly sewn up—and in the process forcing issues like economic inequality and political corruption to the center of the debate. But it can only keep going with our support. 

Guess what? Walker supporters are doing the same for the Wisconsin governor, who has a stronger record of leadership, accomplishment, executive prowess, and achievement. Will Warren by ready for Walker in 2016?



Elizabeth Warren (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau(

From the Boston Globe to MoveOn.org to Prof. Lawrence Lessig of Harvard University, the cry is clear:

Run, Warren, Run!