Dear Professor Lessig,


I appreciate all you and your organization are doing to bring attention to the single most important issue our country faces,the scourge of dark money in politics, and was happy to hear you’ve joined the presidential race to add your voice to the conversation.


Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend your event in Salem, NH tomorrow evening but would be very interested in sharing your response, if you approve, to the following NH Rebellion question in a letter to the editor of several NH Seacoast newspapers: What specific reforms will you advance to end the corrupting influence of money in our political system?


I have also forwarded you, below, a copy of an Op-ed (I write a lot of letters to the editor) I had published in Foster’s Daily Democrat, the Portsmouth Herald and the Rochester Times following a Vertical Granny D I recently had the pleasure of participating in with Xanni Brown.


I look forward to hearing your responses to the NH Rebellion Question.


Thank you and best wishes with your campaign and to the important work of the NH Rebellion,


Wayne


Wayne Merritt

[email protected]

603-834-1732


Another View


Vertical Granny D to Mount Liberty’s summit


By Wayne H. Merritt


If one of America’s greatest freedom fighters, Doris “Granny D” Haddock were still around to offer guidance, she would no doubt advise us and our elected officials that money, by no means, equates to free speech and that corporations are certainly not people!


Her inspirational 3,200 mile walk across America, at age 90, to protest the plague of big money in politics, included 63,000 feet in elevation gain, which was no small feat and, at the same time, no match for the driven and determined Granny D.


In the spirit of Granny D, the NH Rebellion holds numerous walks around the state to alert and educate the NH citizenry about big money corruption in our political system. The organization has furthermore launched a new initiative, to capture the vertical essence of Ms. Haddock’s long walk, called a “Vertical Granny D,” which is comprised of hikes up to some of NH’s tallest and most beautiful mountaintops, to take full advantage of NH’s natural beauty and to make an emphatic statement about the organization’s noble cause.


I went on the most recent “Vertical Granny D,” where a small group of NH Rebellion walkers, along with 13 year old rat terrier, Peaboy of Dover, took advantage of ideal weather on Sunday, August 16 to join forces and make the 8.6 mile (round trip) trek to the summit of Mt. Liberty (4,459 feet with 3,250 feet of elevation gain), chosen for the symbolism of its name and for its picturesque location in between Franconia Ridge and Mt Flume.


The Communications Manager for the NH Rebellion, Xanni Brown recently expressed, – and I’m sure that legendary activists and outdoor enthusiasts Teddy Roosevelt, John Muir and Henry David Thoreau would all concur – “There’s no better place to grow as an activist community and elevate the issue than on top of one of New Hampshire’s gorgeous mountaintops.”


So far this summer, the NH Rebellion has climbed over 130,000 feet – that’s two Vertical Granny D’s! To participate in and/or organize future Vertical Granny D’s and to spend meaningful time with a group of very friendly, positive, energetic, like-minded people, please e-mail Xanni at [email protected].