Let’s start with the end: you can do something to change the broken political landscape in the United States, but you have to act quickly. Here’s a link to donate directly to outsider candidates I support who aren’t getting the funds they need. They are dedicated to working for their constituents’ healthcare, jobs, and community, but their districts are low income and have been ignored by national Democratic leadership. Any amount helps, no matter how small, but if you’re not a US citizen or permanent resident and can’t donate, at least you can help get the word out.
A few decades ago, I started became concerned about the national political landscape. Bush’s war on terror and the PATRIOT act were nightmares for freedom, and then Obama increased surveillance and drone strikes. At the same time, corporate lobbyists and PACs had grown to overrun the electoral process with their outsized influence.
The US is a rich country in funds and resources, but also in values. The Declaration of Independence puts it right up front: people have inherent rights that can’t be legislated away, and the government is there to secure those rights, drawing its power from the people. We don’t always live up to these values, but change has come upon us time and again with simple questions like, “am I not a man and a brother?”
We are now at a critical point. Ignore the distracting presidency — Republicans are openly backing corporations & the wealthy by driving up the deficit and dismantling the thin safety net we have. Establishment Democrats are disorganized and out of touch with their roots, siding with financial interests instead of the poor and middle class. It’s time for a change.
Given that there isn’t a strong third party, the best bet is to renovate the Democrats from the inside. Too often, they have run weak candidates in districts that were too small or rural for them to care about, or even let the race go unopposed.
This has been a mistake. There is a huge vacuum for truly populist, outsider candidates. For 2018, the Democratic establishment appears to be cruising on anti-Trump sentiment, hoping enough voters are energized by his antics to turn against their local Republicans. Their tired playbook of dumping tons of outside money into business-friendly candidates to annoy residents with nonstop TV ads late in the campaign is another mistake.
The good news is that first-time Democratic candidates are running that support common sense policies like access to healthcare, investing in infrastructure, and education. And, they’re focused on the basics: build a ground campaign that talks to voters and recruits volunteers to get out the vote. The community they build will outlast this one election. But since they’re running in districts that have been ignored by the Democratic organization, they are lacking basic funds.
More good news: we’re not talking a lot of money. Your $10 or $100 donation makes a huge difference when $2,000/month hires a staff member. I know many of you are engineers & entrepreneurs that can give even more.
If these outsider candidates raise enough money before the primaries next year, it gets very interesting. The national Democratic party will notice the schoolteacher that just wiped the floor with their perennial, bland contender, outraising them with individual donations. Once they’re in the spotlight, these candidates will attract much more funding going into the main election and win their races.
Time is running out for 2017 to get these candidates off to a good start, so please consider giving an amount that hurts a bit, because it will be too late if we wait for the Democratic leadership to figure it out on their own.
rdist 