A suggestion for Prof. Lessig

Dear Professor Lessig,

Here's what I think you should do, now that you have dropped the resignation component of your referendum Presidential candidacy.

With MAYDAY, you started at the Congressional level. When MAYDAY got going in 2014, your plan was to elect a reform minded Congress by 2016.

MAYDAY involved itself in a few 2014 Congressional elections.

Your idea was  to learn what you could from those elections, and then proceed to devise a plan of action looking towards the 2016 Congressional elections.

The problem was, in the months following the 2014 elections, I think you came to the conclusion nothing you could devise for MAYDAY at the Congressional level was going to cut it.

As you found yourself increasingly dubious about MAYDAY's prospects, you brainstormed for something else.

You discovered your concept of the referendum Presidency, and you included a commitment to resign as soon as Congress passed reform.

When MAYDAY launched, you said it was  a "moonshot."

If MAYDAY was a moonshot, I think you might fairly well say that your referendum Presidency concept was a "Hail Mary."

OK, it took about six weeks for you to conclude that the resignation component of your  concept would make your campaign an impossibility, and so you have dropped that component.

Instead of a "Hail Mary" play, you might say things have now shifted to a 1000 to 1 long shot.

With your 1000 to 1 long shot, here's what I think you should do.

The Presidential election has good news and bad news.

The good news is the Presidential election sucks up most of the political oxygen, and you very much want your issue to partake of that oxygen and catch hold of national public attention.

The bad news is that the Presidential election is where money holds maximum sway. A billion or so dollars is going to be invested on the Republican side of the Presidential election, and a billion or so dollars is going to be invested on the Democratic side.

The reason you are a 1000 to 1 long shot is because it is virtually impossible to imagine you becoming competitive without huge amounts of campaign donations, and it is virtually impossible to imagine such amounts being forthcoming to you.

Bernie Sanders has established a viable and competitive Presidential candidacy with high public recognition of carrying the banner on your issue. Just about anyone who believes in your issue, and who wants to make a small donation with a view to making a small difference, will donate to Bernie Sanders and not to you.

So, what can you do with your 1000 to 1 long shot Presidential candidacy?

You should campaign as hard as you can on your issue.

You should use your campaign to get your issue played up as much as you can with Bernie Sanders supporters, and with Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina supporters.

You should even say, while you want people to donate to you, if they think you have no chance and they don't want to donate to you because you have no chance, then they should donate to Bernie Sanders.

You should get back to your MAYDAY roots, and work on making your issue an important issue in as many Congressional districts as you can. You should work on finding people who are willing to put themselves forward as Congressional candidates on your issue and do as much as they can to elevate the issue in their Congressional districts.

You should devise a plan for trying to force Congress to act before the 2016 elections, with the 2016 Congressional elections being a referendum on how well incumbent Senators and Representatives have done relative to contributing to, or failing to contribute to, Congress acting before the 2016 elections.

That's what I think you should do.