Lawrence Lessig in ABC This Week interviews during 2015

On Corporations: We need a new law to take on Wall Street

LESSIG: On Dodd-Frank, look, every Democrat is talking now about how we have to go back and have a new law to take on Wall Street. But you can't take on Wall Street until you change the way campaigns are funded, because the biggest funder of campaigns in Congress is Wall Street.

On Health Care: ObamaCare public option was compromised to special interests

LESSIG: Yes, they could say that, but of course, you have to remember when health care was passed, we had a super majority in the Senate and we had a majority in the House. And even health care had to make important compromises to the special interests so drug prices can't be negotiated because pharmaceutical companies said they would spend millions to defeat Democrats and the public option that the president promised was thrown out the window when insurance companies said they would spend millions to defeat Democrats. So even the most important thing he did--and I'm a big supporter of the president, he's been an amazing president--but the most important thing he did is compromised by the corrupt way in which we fund campaigns.

On Principles & Values: Acknowledge elephant in the room: partisanship doesn't work

LESSIG: I'm running to get people to acknowledge the elephant in the room. We have to recognize we have a government that does not work. This stalemated, partisan platform of American politics in Washington right now doesn't work. And we have to find a way to elevate the debate to focus on the changes that would actually get us a government that could work again, that is not captured by the tiniest fraction of the 1% who fund campaigns.

Q: So, campaign finance reform, voting rights reform?

And also dealing with crazy way we have political gerrymandering where politicians pick the voters rather than the voters pick the politicians.

Q: And you're saying that if you win, if you become president and you pass that platform, you'll resign?

LESSIG: That's right. Because what we need is a focus that could cut across partisan lines and say this is the mandate. The mandate is to achieve this fix to the corrupted system, to fix the democracy first.