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This is not a left and right issue. This is the important thing to recognize: This is not about conservatives versus liberals. In our case, in Eldred, we have this brief filed by 17 economists, including Milton Friedman, James Buchanan, Ronald Kost, Ken Arrow, you know, lunatics, right? Left-wing liberals, right? Friedman said he'd only join if the word 'no-brainer' existed in the brief somewhere, like this was a complete no-brainer for him. This is not about left and right. This is about right and wrong. That's what this battle is.

Lawrence Lessig#30

CopyrightPoliticsConsensusEconomics

About this quote

What does it mean?
Lessig frames copyright reform as a non-partisan issue, supported by economists across the political spectrum, arguing it is about right versus wrong rather than left versus right.
In plain terms
Copyright reform should not be a left vs right issue.
What can you take from it?
Cross-party consensus shows this is about principle, not politics.

Where it applies

  • legal advocacy
  • political discourse
  • policy lobbying

Putting it to work

  • legal brief
  • public advocacy

Questions to consider

  • Can policy be truly non-partisan?
  • What defines right versus wrong in law?

Another view

Not all stakeholders agree on what constitutes 'right' or 'wrong' here.

More from Lawrence Lessig

  1. If you don't do something now, this freedom that you built, that you spend your life coding, this freedom will be taken away. Either by those who see you as a …

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  2. I believe it would be right for common sense to revolt against the extreme claims made today on behalf of 'intellectual property.' What the law demands today i…

    Permalink to quote #31
  3. 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

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