Rootstrikers. Rootstrikers. Who We Are. Rootstrikers began in April 2011 as a project of Fix Congress First, an organization founded by Lawrence Lessig and Joe Trippi. You can read more about our mission here. In addition to our network of activists and volunteers, we are: Lawrence Lessig | Founder Lawrence Lessig is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School, director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, and founder [and fearless leader] of Rootstrikers. Lessig serves on the Board of Creative Commons, The American Academy, Berlin, AXA Research Fund, iCommons.org, and on the advisory board of the Sunlight Foundation. Lessig holds a BA in economics and a BS in management from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA in philosophy from Cambridge, and a JD from Yale. Szelena Gray | Executive Director Jay Costa | National Coordinator, Street Team Outside of Rootstrikers, Jay is a member of the staff at MapLight, where he designs web products, such as Voter's Edge.
Mia Tong | Intern. Rootstrikers. Rootstrikers, or sometimes Root strikers, is a self-described nonpartisan grassroots activist organization created by Harvard law school professor Lawrence Lessig[1][2] and political activist Joe Trippi (a Democratic campaign worker and consultant) for the purpose of fighting political corruption in the United States and reducing the role of special interest money in elections.[3] According to Lessig, who has called for a Second Constitutional Convention,[3] the idea is not to hack at the branches of the problem but rather focus on its root,[4][5] which Lessig views as a corrupt campaign finance system, and hence he named the organization rootstrikers.[6][7] The name "Rootstrikers" is based on a quote from the first chapter of Henry David Thoreau's book Walden:[1][9] "There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root".
Positions[edit] In his 2012 book One Way Forward, Lessig proposes what he termed the Anti-Corruption Pledge. Activities[edit]