Washblog

So ride the "What if" train with me.  What if every member of your legislative district party organization sent in $5 per month?  If we look at the low end, and consider a district with maybe 200 members, that's a thousand dollars a month, or $12,000 per year.  Looking at the high end with perhaps 1000 members, that's $5,000 per month, or $60,000 per year.  Or is that the high end?  Each precinct has between 300 and 1,000 people.  Dream big!  That's money that could be spent on infrastructure, or shared with candidates, the county organizations and the state
party.  

But let's say that each $5 to the LD is paralleled with an additional $5 to the county.  $10 per month doesn't sound like too much.  What could that do for county party organizations around the state?  Right now, most of us are focused on the state legislature races every two years, and county races which are partisan.  With a steady income, that could be expanded to work harder on city council, school board and special district races, putting strong progressive candidates into office at the local level around where you live.

If we're really doing well, we could expand that with an additional $5 per month for the state, and maybe to the DNC as well.  Maybe even the DSCC and DCCC.  Heck, the state caucuses have lots of potential to increase the voice of those particular communities.  What they need is encouragement and funding.  So if you're a Labor supporter, can you spare $5 per month in addition to the union dues?  Or if you have someone in your family who is disabled, $5 to the Disabilities Caucus would help a great deal.  

Or maybe you're not a "Democrat", but you get the idea of infrastructure being important.  Progressive Majority needs help and funding.  So does PDA.  Or the Institute for Washington's Future, the host of Washblog.  Or the NW Progressive Institute, one of the hardest working activists organizations I see in the state.  And there are a huge number of other local charity and activists organizations that spend lots of their money to beg for $50 here and $100 there on a regular basis. I once had someone tell me that it was easier for them to ask someone for $5,000 than $50. That organization closed last year because they were getting no grassroots support. They would have been ecstatic to get a little extra each month from a large number of people. That's how staff is paid, and office costs paid for. Whatever you decide to donate to, it needs to start at the local level, close to home and close to the heart.

It needs to start small, because small numbers add up, and are easier for us to swallow.  But it does need to start.

Can you spare 16 cents per day?  I can, at the LD and County level.  I can afford that.  I have been for the past several months.  Care to join me?

Chad Lupkes