Pledge to Fund the Progressive Movement

by maddogg, Mon Jun 25, 2007 at 01:32:53 PM EST

It's that time of year again.  All of the candidates are trying to get in that one last fundraising push before the end of the quarter so that they claim lots and lots of support.  While I'm not going to discourage anyone from donating to their favorite candidate(I encourage it!) I would ask you to also consider donating to progressive infrastructure.

This is a riff on what Chris Bowers always talked about, The One-Way Flow of Progressive Movement Money.  To Summarize, we give all of our hard earned money to our democratic candidates who then give it to consultants who either treat us with disdain or as an ATM.  Meanwhile the flow from the party back to progressives is rare. (Notable exceptions are blogad purchases by most presidential campaigns and Russ Feingold's Progressive Patriots Fund)

Moved by the problem and the fact that the people in power would like to keep it that way,  I have made a pledge to myself to do what little i can with my meager dollars to be part of the solution.  This year I have made a pledge to match any money, at least dollar for dollar, I donate to a campaign or party organization(DNC, state party, DSCC, DCCC, etc..) to a progressive organization.

For instance, I'm a holder of a "democracy bond" which sends monthly donations to the DNC.  To match this I now make monthly donations to Blogpac.  Last quarter I matched my donation to Obama's Campaign with a donation to the Progressive States Network which was trying to influence state legislatures to pass Iraq pro-redeployment resolutions.  This quarter I'm matching my Obama donation with one to the Progressive Majority organization which is giving Democrats a deeper and more progressive bench.  They're doing this by getting normal, progressive, people to run for local office in the hopes that they'll stay involved and later move up the ladder.

Now I'm not writing this because I want everyone here to think how great I am and to love me(if that was the case I wouldn't have mentioned my Presidential preference), but to hopefully inspire others to make a similar pledge.  Also, this would extend to any candidate running for the house or senate as well.

Obviously you don't have to donate to the same organizations that I have, I mentioned the above ones as a suggestion only.  Also, you don't have to make the donations at the same level.  You could say for every dollar to a candidate, you'll give 50cents, 25cents, or 2 dollars to a Progressive Infrastructure.  I just hope to inspire more people to look beyond candidate donations as being worthy of your money.


Poll
Will you make a pledge to help fund the progressive movement?
I will match at least a dollar for each dollar to a candidate.
I will match at least 50cents for each dollar to a candidate.
I will match at least 25cents for each dollar to a candidate.
I will match at least 1.50 dollars for each dollarto a candidate.
I will match at least 2 dollars for each dollarto a candidate.
I will match more.
I will give to candidates only and not anything to progressive infrastructure.
I will not give anything to progressive infrastrucure and only to candidates.
I will not donate to either.
Who are you and why are you asking me for money?

Votes: 4
Results : Vote Link : Polls


Tags: Progressive Movement (all tags)

Display:
Permalink :: 1 Comment :: Post a Comment


Re: Pledge to Fund the Progressive Movement (none / 0)

Thanks for the reminder.  I would also encourage folks to give to a youth organization - any org, but here are some in particular that I like:

www.indyvoter.org
www.forwardmontana.org
www.busproject.org
www.youngpeoplefor.org
www.drummajorinstitute.org/dmischolars
www.drinkingliberally.org
www.neweracolorado.org
www.yda.org
www.climatechallenge.org

These groups are all engaging and training young people to be active participants in the progressive movement.  They are outspent by the conservative student/youth groups by more than 5-1, and many are struggling to achieve sustainability.

Consider giving to them and supporting the next generation of progressive activists.  It's an investment in the future of our movement.  Think of it like EMILY's List (early money is like yeast).


Youth to Power
by Mike Connery on Mon Jun 25, 2007 at 02:09:22 PM EST


You are not logged in.

In order to post a comment, you must be logged in. If you have a member account, please log in to comment.

If not, you can make an account right here. It's quick and free.

Login
Username:

Password: