On this episode (recorded before Tuesday's election), Lessig is joined by his colleagues Matthew A. Seligman (Stris & Maher), Ned Foley (Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State), and Derek Muller (Notre Dame Law School) to discuss what could (have) happen(ed) in the period after Election Day and before the counting of electoral votes.
In this episode, Lessig outlines what happens if Maine passes Question 1. What are the next steps, and the arguments that will get us to the Supreme Court — and to victory!
On this episode, Lessig describes the campaign in Maine. The legislature chose to let the people decide whether to vote against SuperPACs in Maine — and if upheld, the nation. This episode discusses that campaign, and the risks it faces. Check out the website of the campaign at CitizensToEndSuperPACS.org.
On this episode, Lessig keeps the story going. We got the signatures. The next step was that the Maine legislature needed to decide whether it would pass the initiative into law itself, or let it go to the ballot. This episode is the story of the legislative hearing, and its decision on how to handle the initiative.
On this episode, Lessig chronicles the next chapter in the story of the Maine initiative. We had an idea — based on FreeSpeechForPeople’s brilliant argument — for an initiative. And Mainers were excited about the idea. A poll showed overwhelming support for the initiative. We just needed to raise the funds to get the signatures gathered. That proved to be an enormous challenge — unsurprisingly, as our theory of victory included convincing the Supreme Court we were right. This episode tells the story of how we got the signatures gathered.
On this episode, Lessig details how we got to this initiative that could end Super PACs: FreeSpeechForPeople.org’s brilliant argument, and the decision to take that argument into the field and win!
On this episode, Lessig provides a brief history of the fight to end SuperPACs. Then, critically, he examines how the theory of the conservatives — originalism — supports our argument against SuperPACs.
On this episode, Lessig asks: How is money a problem in a democracy, and how is it like the other problems we’re facing in our democracy?
On this episode, Lessig explains the legal background to the Maine initiative, from Citizens United to the case that gave us SuperPACs: SpeechNow v. FEC (2010).
On this episode, Lessig introduces the upcoming Maine initiative that could end SuperPACs and lays out the plan for Season 6 of Another Way.
For this final episode of Season 5, Lessig speaks to TedX Berlin about AI, democracy, and the future. You can watch a video recording of this TedX talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zYHqg1PwoQ
In 2020, in the middle of a pandemic, Jon Stever launched an extraordinary experiment to draw together a representative sample of the world to discuss the climate and ecological crisis the world is facing. In this conversation, I talk to him about how he and his team did that, and what it teaches us about the potential for citizen assemblies generally.
Ireland has been perhaps the most impressive example of citizen assemblies addressing national issues in a new and edifying way. David Farrell is an academic who has studied the Irish example. I talk with him about what Ireland can teach the rest of the world.
Katrín Oddsdóttir is a founding mother of the still-not-ratified Iceland Constitution. In 2012, the people of Iceland told their Parliament to adopt a constitution based on the draft that she and 24 other Icelanders crafted. They had crafted their draft based upon the results from two citizens assemblies. We hear about that history and what it can teach us going forward.
Claudia Chwalisz is a social entrepreneur, spreading the gospel of citizen assemblies. In this episode we talk to her about citizens assemblies' potential and how they are spreading across the world.
Not all AI is democracy ending AI. Some can support democracy and make it better. In this episode, I talk to Kim Polese, whose career launching transformative technologies (beginning with Java) has landed with a democracy enhancing AI, CrowdSmart. We talk about its potential, as well as the open source alternative, pol.is.
David Van Reybrouck's book, Against Elections, helped crystalize a movement for citizen assemblies. In my conversation with him, we talk about the origin of this idea, and how it could complement democracy.
Chloe Maxim and Canyon Woodward built a people focused movement in rural Maine to change the way politics works. I talk to them about their book, Dirt Road Revival, and the organization they've launched, DirtRoadOrganizing.org, aiming to change how we do politics, for the better.
Eli Pariser, Executive Director of MoveOn at 23, and founder of UpWorthy, talks to me about creating healthy online spaces, and democratic activism that builds up democracy rather than tearing it down.
After hope, we need health. Josh Greene, professor of psychology at Harvard University and author of Moral Tribes talks to me about building healthier engagement between increasingly polarized citizens.
Dan Zhou
Thee most intellectually stimulating experience I've encountered all year.
Allan Mercado
Love this podcast and insight.
Tom Affolter
I'm an attorney and I like Leasing a lot. he's smart, pragmatic, and I hope he can get his message out with this.
Natalie Schreiber
I disagree that getting money out of politics is a partisan issue. On the contrary, it's literally the only thing that many of the Republicans I know agree with me on. Of course I'm speaking about the average voters though...