This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Thursday, September 3rd, 2015.

I'm Caleb Brown.

When Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig announced a run for the White House, primarily to restrict private spending in elections, he pointed to the 1968

campaign of Eugene McCarthy as an example.

Problem is, it's a terrible example to make the point Lessig wants to make.

John Samples, Vice President and publisher at the Cato Institute, comments.

Lawrence Lessig has announced that he's running for president, sort of.

And the sole issue is campaign finance.

And the example that he points to as a reason why we need to change our political system is Eugene McCarthy and his

1968 campaign for the presidency based largely on the Vietnam War and making that a

front and center issue where it had not been too much of a front and center issue

up to that point that seems like an odd example and I know you know why.

So it's an odd example in one way first of all. He's maintaining that like in 1968 nobody is talking about money and

politics but in fact not a week passes with somebody somewhere in Washington

DC is talking about money and politics and the need for campaign

financial form and Larry Lessix made an entire career of the latter part of his career of doing this.

But there's something even more ironic here, which is the nature of

Eugene McCarthy's challenge in 1968, where indeed,

Lyndon Johnson was expected to be re-nominated.

He was the, had conducted the Vietnam War policy.

He was expected there wouldn't be any talk about that

or criticism of a rejection of that policy in the Democratic primaries.

...