Quandary and advice

[dmac]

I have noticed in the last 2 weeks that the new political season has arrived - at least, “officially”. What exactly called my attention to this fact? My inbox was inundated once again with donation requests from every single Democratic group to have ever received donations from me.

Normally I would be pulling out my checkbook and beginning to prioritize the political needs expressed in each individual letter and slowly begin the dole. Only this year, I am in a complete quandary about what to do. I sent letters and emails to most of these groups post November 2, as I was working through my grief and I was very clear that I had no intention of contributing another dime to any Democratic effort unless the party got behind the effort to investigate the problems reported with the Presidential election. I got back a few of your typical form letter, “Thank you for contacting my office . . . “ but not a single response regarding my concerns about the election.

But of course, a new political season has begun and I guess perhaps they thought what? That I would forget? I doubt it. More likely, no one ever read my letters or took them seriously if they did. To further compound my problem, I am at odds with just about everyone on this. I am getting, “if you don’t support the system, how are you going to help change the system?” and “if you turn your back on the Dem party, who are you going to vote for? What will you do?” And when I answer I think giving money to the Dems right now is like throwing money into a well, they all shake their heads. They don’t say out loud, but I can read it in their eyes, “Oh please, not another rant about the voting machines or how the Republicans stole another one ….”

Clearly I still consider myself a Democrat! And of course I would do anything to help the Dems win the WH in ’08, or win back seats in ’06 but I honestly do not believe either of those things will happen if the party does not get behind this effort. And I mean ALL of them – not just Boxer and Conyers, Nadler, Wexler, etc. I do not mean to denigrate the efforts that are being made by these brave few but I do not think they can accomplish this without the full weight of the party behind them.

I argued again tonight with my spouse and friends. This is what worries me. These people are Democrats and they do not believe this so how are we ever going to convince others that this is essential? I finally got 2 of them to agree to read 50 pages – any 50 pages I give them. I came home and have gone through my notebooks of links and printouts --- pages and pages, trying to discern which 50 pages would best summarize the extent of what has occurred, and be the most likely to convince. That is no easy choice. The good news is there was plenty to choose from, the bad news is what if I choose unwisely? Here is my chance to pull someone else on board – maybe, just maybe.

I finally settled on Armando’s Challenge – largely because the number of pages roughly matches what I got my friends to agree to read - and, it is a fairly easy read. But I am posting to see if anyone has a suggestion they think would be better. All I want is to spark enough interest to suck them in. Then hopefully they will want to read through more of what I have filed. So if any of you think another report would be more convincing, please suggest it. Thanks.

[specimenfred1984]

1. Hate: It Works

Ask them if they hate WMD lies, outing CIA agents, bigots, homophobes, Smear Boat Vets, Faux News, smirks, 10,000 dead and wounded Americans for nothing.

If they don't hate these things, consider them Nazis.

[skids]

2. I'm not a big money donor.

I tend to support causes with time rather than money, because I'm in control of how that gets spent, so I know it isn't being wasted.

...but what I do give as far as partisan contributions next time around is going exclusively and directly to voter-informing ground-pounders and voting rights protection. It's a way to support the Dems (which I do although I am not one) without giving them too much opportunity to screw around and waste my money.

I think if we look at all the various people who take money to work on campaigns, there are some that even us "jilted, paranoid, election fraud conspiracy theorists" as the concessionists would like to envision us, can still support wholeheartedly.

Especially, since we are reassessing our beneficiaries now anyway, maybe it is time to also address the way a lot of national headquarters for various movements, parties, and singe-issues somehow manage to ignore many of their best grassroots organizers. In the case of the Dems, this was most evident this year by the fact that so many of their door-knockers were imported from other states versus the Republicans. (With due acknowlegement to the dedication of the Dems that shipped out to work the battlegrounds.)

Anyway, not to ignore your second issue, but I think this is a timely topic and I'd like to hear what other DUers are going to do to target their party support. I'm not talking about money diverted into nonpartisan election protection groups like HelpAmericaRecount, USCountVotes, etc. but at the same time knowing what portion of their normal support they plan to divert would also be interesting. Mainly I'm talking about how one goes about figuring out the specific places lower in the democratic food chain where money or time can be better donated.

[dmac]

3. Your plan makes a lot of sense and will probably work

for me as well. Thanks.

[marions ghost]

4. well said, skids

That's my plan too--giving "directly to voter-informing ground-pounders and voting rights protection. It's a way to support the Dems..."

and like you I'm hoping we can define soon (not necessarily today) what groups are REALLY moving out on this. I want to put my energy and money where it's going to count.

Meanwhile about solicitations from other groups, I suggest coming up with a generic "form letter" for them. Just crank out a few, nice and polite, about why you will be giving again when they start getting serious about your greatest concerns (with refs to info). I've already done this with mine. If enough people start doing this....