Skip to content
quotesby

It's insane. It's extreme. It's controlled by political interests. It has no justification in the traditional values that justify legal regulation. And we've done nothing about it. We're bigger than they are. We've got rights on our side. And we've done nothing about it. We let them control this debate. Here's the refrain that leads to this: They win because we've done nothing to stop it.

Lawrence Lessig#27

LawPoliticsRegulationPowerChangeCitizens

About this quote

What does it mean?
The current system is extreme and politically controlled without traditional justification, yet people have done nothing to stop it.
In plain terms
The system is extreme and political, but people just accept it and do nothing.
What can you take from it?
Public inaction allows extreme political control to persist without justification.

Where it applies

  • civic engagement
  • political activism
  • policy reform

Putting it to work

  • join advocacy groups
  • demand accountability
  • stop passivity

Questions to consider

  • Why do people accept extreme rules?
  • How can citizens influence policy?

Another view

It assumes individuals have the power to change complex systems alone.

More from Lawrence Lessig

  1. Here's a story: There was a documentary filmmaker who was making a documentary film about education in America. And he's shooting across this classroom with lo…

    Permalink to quote #26
  2. J. C. Watts is the only black member of the Republican Party in leadership. He's going to resign from Congress. He's been there seven and a half years. He's ha…

    Permalink to quote #28
  3. Now, here's the thing you've got to remember. You've got to see this. This is the point. (And Jack Valenti misses this.) Here's the point: Never has it been mo…

    Permalink to quote #25

Related quotes

  1. The day after the fall of Khrushchev, the editors of Pravda, Izvestiia, the heads of the radio and television were replaced; the army wasn't called out. Today …

    Umberto EcoUmberto Eco quote #1
  2. 'It is more than a crime; it is a political fault,' -words which I record, because they have been repeated and attributed to others.

    Joseph FoucheJoseph Fouche quote #1
  3. A political country is like an American forest; you have only to cut down the old trees, and immediately new trees come up to replace them.

    Walter BagehotWalter Bagehot quote #1