We won’t get our democracy back until we change the way campaigns are funded.

TL;DR if you were thinking of supporting MayDay and have been putting it off please act by July 4th. Every contribution helps, and you will only be charged if they hit their 5 million dollar target (2 million to go right now as I write this). Plus, and this is a big plus, you will be able to tell yourself and maybe your grandkids that you helped make real political reform happen in the United States. Oh and it’s July 4th weekend, what better way to celebrate the independence we have left!

If you are reading my blog you are most likely a fan of Lawrence Lessig and Aaron Swartz’s work on Creative Commons to help create a content ecosystem for the Web that works for its users … you and me.

Before he left us Aaron convinced Lessig that we need to get to the root of the problem, how political decisions are made in Congress, in order to address macro problems like copyright reform. For a really personal interview with Lessig that covers this evolution in his thinking, and how it led to the Granny D inspired midwinter march across New Hampshire, and the recent MayDay effort check out last week’s podcast of the The Good Fight.

Or if you haven’t seen it, definitely watch Lessig’s 13 minute TED Talk:

If you are part of the 90% of American’s who think that our government is broken because of the money in politics please check out MayDay’s efforts to crowdsource enough money to fund political campaigns that are committed to legislation that will change it.

It doesn’t matter if you are on the left or the right, or if you live in a red or blue state, or honestly whether you live in the United States or not. This is an issue that impacts all of us, and generations to come. We can fix this thing. But we have to try to fix it, we can’t just sit back and expect someone else to fix it for us. Lessig has a plan, and he’s raised 4 million dollars so far (if you include the previous 1 million campaign) from people like you who think he’s on to something. Let’s push MayDay over the five million dollar edge and see what happens next!

Afterword

And as my friend Mike reminded me, even if you aren’t sure about the politics, donate in memory of Aaron. He was such an advocate and innovator for the Web, libraries and archives … and continues to be sorely missed. Catch the recently released documentary about Aaron in movie theaters now or for free on the Internet Archive since it is Creative Commons licensed: