Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 63 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
Exclusive to OpEd News:
OpEdNews Op Eds    H2'ed 6/22/17

What's your Monthly Donation Budget For Politicians and Organizations?

By       (Page 1 of 1 pages)   1 comment, In Series: Bottom-up, Top-down
Follow Me on Twitter     Message Rob Kall
Become a Fan
  (295 fans)

Bottom Up Small Money and power beat Top Down big money
Bottom Up Small Money and power beat Top Down big money
(Image by Rob Kall)
  Details   DMCA

What? You don't have a monthly budget? You should.

You $2 or $3 donations can really make a huge difference. Make a decision that you will fight the system, that you will fight the establishment. I think of these little donations like the bottom up image of the many little fish eating the big fish. If we work together we are more powerful than the big money. We can take back the power they've stolen from the people.

I don't make a lot of money, not even close. I'm in the bottom 10% for my age. But I have a monthly budget for donating to candidates and causes. I make very small donations, usually under $5, sometimes under $3.00. And I believe they make a difference. And I think you should too.

Bernie Sanders proved that small donations could make a difference. If millions of people started donating $10, $20, $30 a month to ten candidates each then those candidates would be able to brag about having a lot more donors. They'd have more money to work with and it would erode the influence of big corporate donors.

As head of an organization, OpEdNews.com, which receives donations, I can tell you that it feels great every time a person makes a donation of any size, even $2 or $3 dollars. And knowing that there have been a hundred or two hundred donors in a month, adding up to whatever amount, compared to twenty, feels good, even if the total is not high.

But I didn't really write this to talk about my organization's fund-raising. I'm hoping that this article will inspire you to look at different organizations and candidates who reflect your beliefs, in whatever party they are in. I suggest coming up with a monthly budget-- maybe the amount you spend going out for a lunch for two. For me that's about $25-40. And try to spread it around to ten different people or organizations.

Personally, I'm looking at people who are aiming to topple incumbents, and at organizations that stand for what I believe in. It would be great to hear from commenters on the orgs and candidates that they are supporting and how they are approaching donations.

Almost every month I hear from someone who is living on a small social security budget who makes a donation to the site I publish, OpEdNews.com. I know that their $3 or $5 or $10 donation is dear. I know because I'm not that far away. But we are giving because we believe that we have a responsibility to help keep the good fight going. We are giving because we know that just sitting on the sidelines and showing up on election day is absolutely not enough.

I will not give to the big D organizations like the incredibly obnoxious and annoying DCCC or DNC or DSCC. I no longer give to Emily's list, since they support the worst neoliberal incumbents, like Dianne Feinstein. But I want to support other groups. This month I'll make about $35 in donations. I'll spread it over about 10-12 different recipients. Think about doing something this. If all the people who supported Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein did this there would be a LOT of money going out to progressive, even socialist candidates.

The thing is, when a candidate accepts help from the DNC or the DCCC, they basically have to prostrate themselves and accept the policy dictates of these corporate, sold out DINO dinosaurs.

If millions of us start backing the good candidates and good organizations, we can enable them to stand up to these corporatist organizations and embrace really progressive principles like single payer medicare for all, free public university tuition, higher taxes on the wealthy, making it illegal to be a billionaire, heavily taxing stock transactions by high speed traders, including costs of ecological pollution and job losses in corporate impact studies, tighter regulations on banking and on all aspects of fossil fuel movement, including pipelines-- the list should be really long.

I'll say it again.

You $2 or $3 donations can really make a huge difference. Make a decision that you will fight the system, that you will fight the establishment. I think of these little donations like the bottom up image of the many little fish eating the big fish. If we work together we are more powerful than the big money. We can take back the power they've stolen from the people.

And again, I encourage you to, in the comments, suggests candidates and organization and people to support, with links.

Valuable 2   Must Read 1   Well Said 1  
Rate It | View Ratings

Rob Kall Social Media Pages: Facebook Page       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Rob Kall is an award winning journalist, inventor, software architect, connector and visionary. His work and his writing have been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC, the HuffingtonPost, Success, Discover and other media.

Check out his platform at RobKall.com

He is the author of The Bottom-up Revolution; Mastering the Emerging World of Connectivity

He's given talks and workshops to Fortune 500 execs and national medical and psychological organizations, and pioneered first-of-their-kind conferences in Positive Psychology, Brain Science and Story. He hosts some of the world's smartest, most interesting and powerful people on his Bottom Up Radio Show, and founded and publishes one of the top Google- ranked progressive news and opinion sites, OpEdNews.com

more detailed bio:

Rob Kall has spent his adult life as an awakener and empowerer-- first in the field of biofeedback, inventing products, developing software and a music recording label, MuPsych, within the company he founded in 1978-- Futurehealth, and founding, organizing and running 3 conferences: Winter Brain, on Neurofeedback and consciousness, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology (a pioneer in the field of Positive Psychology, first presenting workshops on it in 1985) and Storycon Summit Meeting on the Art Science and Application of Story-- each the first of their kind. Then, when he found the process of raising people's consciousness and empowering them to take more control of their lives one person at a time was too slow, he founded Opednews.com-- which has been the top search result on Google for the terms liberal news and progressive opinion for several years. Rob began his Bottom-up Radio show, broadcast on WNJC 1360 AM to Metro Philly, also available on iTunes, covering the transition of our culture, business and world from predominantly Top-down (hierarchical, centralized, authoritarian, patriarchal, big) to bottom-up (egalitarian, local, interdependent, grassroots, archetypal feminine and small.) Recent long-term projects include a book, Bottom-up-- The Connection Revolution, (more...)
 

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Follow Me on Twitter     Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

A Conspiracy Conspiracy Theory

Debunking Hillary's Specious Winning the Popular Vote Claim

Terrifying Video: "I Don't Need a Warrant, Ma'am, Under Federal Law"

Ray McGovern Discusses Brutal Arrest at Secretary Clinton's Internet Freedom Speech

Hillary's Disingenuous Claim That She's Won 2.5 Million More Votes is Bogus. Here's why

Cindy Sheehan Bugged in Denver

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend