International Law

techPresident wonders if "Lessig for Congress" might not be as silly as it first seems:

There's a playful drive   afoot to draft law professor, free-culture guru, and PowerPoint maestro   Larry Lessig to run in the April 8 special election for the open seat in California's   12th congressional district. Thing is, "Congressman Lessig"   might not be as far-fetched as it first seems.

The seat was made vacant by the unfortunate passing of Congressman Tom Lantos,   who represented the district southwest of San Francisco since the early '80s.   What are the odds that Lessig might actually throw his hat in the ring? Well,   we have to consider that for the globe-trotting academic with a very big microphone   as one of the superstars of the tech world, getting sworn in as a freshman member   of Congress -- one of a giant California delegation that includes 52 other representatives   -- might be something of a downward career move.

That said, it's more fun to focus on the possibility that he might actually   make a go of it. What sits on the "he's gonna do it" side of the scale?   For one thing, Lessig has become far more politically engaged in recent years.   Fairly recently he decided to take a step back from a decade's worth of work   on copyright and other creative content issues to focus   the next ten years on what he decided was the most pressing issue of our   time --government corruption, broadly written.

And why did Lessig make his move? For one reason -- and, frankly, the first   one he mentioned in his statement on the topic -- a guy by the name of Barack   Obama. Lessig stated his admiration for Obama's "up or out" approach   to public service, and pledged to help get him to the White House. Obama has   been strong on the issues that Lessig cares about, namely transparency (see,   for example, Obama's   contracting database bill) and openness (see, for example, his advocacy   on behalf of loosening   the control over CSPAN debate footage). And Lessig has been a vocal advocate   on Obama's behalf, most recently via a pair of videos on why   he supports Obama and on Clinton's   supposed unelectibility.

Now that the senator from Illinois is in a great position to actually get the   big job, serving on Capitol Hill as an ally and guide to a President Obama might   be very tempting.

But here's the one bit of evidence that actually finally convinced me that   this "Lessig for Congress" thing might actually have legs. Politics   is personal, right? And the Draft   Lessig for Congress   Facebook group -- 548 members and growing quickly -- was launched by Harvard   professor John Palfrey, Lessig's colleague and, I think it's fair to say, good   friend. Maybe he knows something we don't.

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