to those who run against the GOP, and to those who run against our own dinosaurs and wimps. I’m going to only support those who challenge our wimps and their crooks.

I split a little bit of money last year among 10 candidates (i think it was thru actblue)—i figured it paid for paper or xeroxes or something or to buy soda for the campaign hq.

as Skippy has been saying.

The Dems want to use the blogosphere as a quiescent ATM machine and give very little in return. Yes, they’ve hired a handful of bloggers and will show up at events to kiss some blogger ass, but nothing as far as real support to the blogging community or any concrete legislative results.

Think of all the non-profit interest groups out there. Even ones like the NRDC, NARAL, etc. who raise millions of dollars. What have they really accomplished?

Not a whole lot. Their leadership gets access to politicians who in turn use them to justify the lack of results to their members. The lefty blogosphere is turning into another infeffectual interest group.

Donate to an ailing blogger instead. Why not? Are they really less deserving than a politician?

even a little has more impact. I supported Tasini against Clinton here, and really wish Christine Quinn would challenge Schumer.

Plus, challengers light fires under their asses—they need to know it’s not their job for life.

all the wimpy incumbents. It actually helps them, and ensures they stick with lobbyist money and banking money and corp money and dirty money…It does nothing to either get rid of them nor to make them accountable.

Supporting new progressive/liberal Dems challenging old tired incumbents is really important.

I think you have to keep trying. You have to give money to Democratic candidates that are closest to your views. That’s the way our system works—only two parties, and the only way for things to change is to support the one of those that’s closest to what you want, so we move incrementally in that direction. But, remember, terrible as things are, as long as the Republicans are in power things will continue to get worse. I’m not saying that the Dems will make everything better, but at least we’ve got a fighting chance with the Dems. Don’t get cynical and give up. There’s an old slogan (from the 60s?): If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. So….keep fighting…and donating!

2010 is gonna be here before you know it. That’s a census year, meaning that redistricting will take place shortly thereafter. This means we need good, strong Progressive Democratic types in charge. People elected to state/commonwealth senates in 08 are still going to be there when this happens. And if you see a chance to get somebody good in at the general assembly/house of delegates/waddeva yer state calls it level, then do it so they’ll be running as incumbents in ’10.

State legislators are usually atrociously paid, especially given the amount of education usually considered a minimum to run for office. Yet they have to pay the same rates for media advertising, gas to drive back and forth from their district to the capital, and keep at least a modest residence in said capital when the lege is in session.

Yes I think it is worthwhile and we are seeing that in action with Hillary vs. Obama. Hillary has essentially tapped out her original sources and is stuck trying to build grass roots support long after her starting point (witness how much more present Bill is these days - he’s there to bring in the small donations, not the big ones)

Meanwhile Obama has built a campaign out of small contributions. His donors are far from reaching the max donation limits, and he has enough of them that he can claim to go all the way without taking $$ with strings attached.

Perhaps it is a new day.

Lately I’ve been sending in contributions when a candidate says (or, for incumbents, does) something I like. The individual contributions are small enough to allow me to react a number of times.

I’ve been reading dog training books, and they have convinced me that it’s a good idea to train with food.

Nothing wrong with donating money to political candidates you agree with, as long as you maintain perspective. You have to think of it in terms of damage control, not in terms of changing the world. The social changes we seek can only be accomplished by our own personal actions. We’ll get far more done by volunteering in a homeless shelter or growing our own food than we will relying on the politicians, most of whom are satisfied with the status quo. The phrase “Become the change you want to see in the world” has never been more apt.

As for feeding the beast, we all do it every time we go to the grocery store, fill our gas tanks, or pay our bills. Unless we find a way to survive outside the system, we contribute our labors to sustain the beast as we earn a living in this world. Although it’s possible for one to drop out completely, the trade-off is that you lose most of your opportunities to influence society by doing so.

Welcome back to the battlefield, CD.

…for the rest of us

That’s the advice of Randi Rhodes, Ed Schultz, et al. It’s all goin’ straight to hell, pretty soon. Top out your credit cards, too: when the hammer falls, good luck recovering any consumer electronics…
Me?
i’d stash vintage scotch…except i’d likely drink my stock…
/

but our kibbles n bits can’t compete with industrial-sized, made in China cargo ships full of cash from manufacturers and conglomerates and lobbyists, etc.

We have to give smart, and not give up. I want a Congress full of Feingolds and Sanders and Debbie Wasserman Shultzes, so i keep my eyes open for people who fit that even if they’re not local, and i give if i can.

Bruce Roemmelt is running for the Virginia House of Delegates. His opponent is a Republican troll who sponsored the We Hate Gays constitutional amendment last year. Roemmelt supports civil unions and civil rights. He is a Vietnam Vet and retire fire fighter.

This is also the sort of race where $100 passes for a major donation.

On the other hand there is your fellow bloggers.

You can not heat your house with gold, nor eat it, nor keep the Visigoths from looting it.

I agree with you Woody, though. Unless the Rethuglicans are wise enough to stand down awhile and let the Soros wing of the Carlyle Group rebuild the economy, our cash won’t be nothin’ but trash. Which gets back to the main point: if you have to chose between a meal and a donation to a DINOcrat, go with the meal.

Just avoid the doughnuts. The first duty of a good revolutionary is not to get caught. The second, a good breakfast.

No Hell below us
Above us, only sky

….which is kinda bad ya know. Look, the ActBlue way is cool because you can support only the candidate(s) you want to.

Do your research and give to the person who seems most likely to represent you.

This ’don’t give to the Dems…’ meme is, frankly, ReThuglican bullshit.

….BACK!

Makes the day a lot better. A lot.

Here is my contribution to answering your question: Check out the list of candidates we support and make a contribution here.

Only one person belongs at the top of that list. The one who scares the ’Political Aristocracy’ shit-less. That’s why he’s at the top.

Interestingly, every woman I’ve talked to about The Hill has been….No way, no way I’m voting for her. And I listen to a lot of women in my role as Drinking Liberally, Oakland, co-host.

Maybe they all saw this…

I just don’t know. I think it a good thing she is running as it does put ’women in politics’ in play more. I just don’t like her policies, politics or who she’s got on her staff. Union busters….yech.

I’ll be dropping by more often now that I see you are back.

Hope to see you at YK2007!
.

It’s so obvious, even with ignoring Coulter.

He’s my pick so far, but i haven’t given to him yet. (I want Hil and Obama to knock each other out first.)

I wish the Big Dog had been lucky enough to be born in a different time, and he’s got to do his best for Hillary, may the God(ess)(e)(s) of Your Choice, If Any, bless him, but ya know? It’s not 1992 anymore, and I think the third way stuff is dead (you too, Tony Blair), partly because we’re more sophisticated, and partly because third way couldn’t protect the country from the winger onslaught, and indeed, in the persons of the DLC, enabled it.

I think both Edwards and Obama are still growing into their campaigns. I think Hillary is who she is, and that won’t be enough (even if she had a real vision of how to restore Constitutional government to the country and some measure of dignity to its citizens).

I’m not sure that either Edwards or Obama has the killer instinct that’s going to be needed. We can’t predict when the time will come, but it will come, and one of them — and, as above, I doubt it will be Hillary — is going to rise to the occasion, and change the rules. We’ll know it when we see it.

Of course, if Al Gore enters the picture, all bets are off.

P.S. I’d like to see Bill Clinton as head of the UN. I think he’d be superb.

No authoritarians were tortured in the writing of this post.

But I will respectfully disagree with Lambert on the whole killer instinct thing. We have not seen him go on the offensive jugular-wise speaking, but the swiftness and accuracy of his responses to smears has been refreshing. I think these are evidence of an ability to strike hard, if necessary. Because of his relative youth and inexperience (the only knock on him that I’ve heard that is real) I think he is careful to be “senatorial” and not get cast as a Howard Dean firebrand. He’s smart.

I have donated to Al Franken because I think the senate would be more fun with him in it (Mike Ciresi, a trial lawyer from Minneapolis, promises to be more of the same, IMO). Otherwise my hard-earned semolians go to Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty, and some local foodshelves.

Love having CD back. She makes me want to be a better Correntian.

“A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead

You have a company that needs to buisness, get a contract or stay out of prison. Otherwise, why waste your money. Next thing, we’ll speak as if our votes count. This is digital democracy.

giving to voting protection orgs is important too—and getting rid of no paper trails and stuff.

I wish people would be targetting the many millions and millions in the Britney Spears generation who are going to be voting for the first time in 08 (or not, which is more usual)—especially young women.

thanks everyone for the kind words.

i think i’m going to go the local route. local is my new mantra, and local gov’t is going to be increasingly important as The Shit Hits the Fan. i like the idea that my money goes farther in a local race, and that i’m more likely to be remembered, and perhaps even listened to, by a local pol for whom 100$ makes a difference. also, as time is money, i like the idea of working for a local pol, putting a face on the Angry Left that s/he’ll remember, as it were. and i’m very memorable in my stilettos.

Pick your favorite of the Prezidental list and send ’em $10 or some other symbolic amount. The metric (if that’s the right word?) seems to have shifted a bit this time around and the “number of donors” figure is getting nearly as much attention as the “total amount raised” column is.

Yeah it puts you on a mailing list for the rest of eternity but the Postal Service needs work too.

Either Gravel or Kuchinich if you want to be symbolic, Edwards to be serious. My humble recommendations anyway. I just wish they’d all figure out that not everybody who has a desire to donate has a fucking credit card….

I like Edwards but mostly because of his wife. I saw here at a do in NY. She struck me as real and really committed to equality in this country. I also liked the fact that she didn’t try to color things rose. And she didn’t talk like a politician. She really talked to the audience.

They should all make an effort to be seen in person. It gives you a totally different impression of the person.

issues a little more.

This Donna Edwards (no relation) sounds cool too—running against a DLC type in MD.

It just came to me.

I can’t think of a better place for my semolians.

“A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead

Slowly, but surely…

No authoritarians were tortured in the writing of this post.

Govenor’s races, due to the power they’ll wield over redistricting are a good choice. Delay thought he had the nation sewn up after his redistricting plans went into effect. It’s only because voters were really unhappy that control tipped.

My other thought is a balance between political giving and community/charity giving. So far, I’m only giving to my main charity, Food for the Poor. I’m keeping track of my donation totals. I do not intend to donate more to politics than I do to feed starving people. This keeps my world upright.

Very glad to see you back in the halls of Corrente. :-)

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” - MLK