Quote of the Day: “The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience.” — Albert Camus (1913-1960) French Algerian author
I hate sending messages like this one, so there will be NO message like it tomorrow. This is the LAST chance.
We desperately need to raise another $713 today to make budget and to take all of Bill Haynes’s MATCHING contribution.
We’re talking about a total potential shortfall of just $1,426. Remarkably, we might have to cut back operations because of this miniscule amount.
Below, I’ll describe why, and what that could mean, in real terms. There are some specific things we could lose.
If you can help, the secure contribution form is here.
Here’s what we accomplished this month . . .
- We created a new campaign (to de-fang the FDA), published 14 issues of the Dispatch, and bombarded Congress with more than 22,000 letters
- I did 9 radio interviews
- We created and launched our new non-registration system, which should smooth recruitment
- We’ve created new software to notify you when other people in your Congressional district want to communicate with you
- We’ve created new software to allow us to take BitCoin and GoldMoney donations
These last two items are in testing and should be available to you soon.
The BitCoin and GoldMoney capability is a case of us trying to lead by example.
- We advocate free market money.
- We’re working to end the Federal Reserve monopoly.
- We claim the economy will work better if consumers can pick and choose between competing forms of money.
- Bitcoin and GoldMoney are both early attempts to prepare the free market infrastructure required to make this happen. We want to support these kinds of initiatives.
More about this soon.
Now here’s where we’re lagging . . .
Recruitment. This is our most important goal, and it’s just NOT happening. We are VERY aware of this problem, and have lots of ideas for fixing it.
We think the Internet has evolved. There are now so many people forwarding so many things that our old and primary method of growth — forwarded Dispatches — has become unworkable.
It may surprise you to hear that we think this is a good thing, NOT a bad thing. It has forced us to think, and to invent. We have LOTS of ideas and plans in the works. All of them are designed to do the following . . .
- Make it easy-ER for YOU to recruit friends and family
- Make it so people will WANT to receive material from you
Imagine that. What if people were actually eager to get material from you?
And what if they were almost certain they’d take some kind of action as a result?
If this were possible, would you want it?
Now, I wish I could do more than just tease you about what we have in mind. But prudence has taught me that I need to dole out this kind of information in tiny increments. Here’s the main point for right now . . .
We may have to cut staff hours if we don’t raise a mere $713 today. That’s not overstatement, because each month the finance challenge returns. That’s why I’m so grateful for our monthly pledgers. They invest a significant chunk of our modest budget, and make that challenge manageable.
But $713 is not a lot of money, right? Millions are being spent on other things by other groups. Yet the whole point of what we do at Downsize DC is to achieve a lot with a little. If you think the way we’ve enabled you to communicate with Congress is a good example of that, then maybe you’ll believe us when we say . . .
We can apply the same kind of leveraged thinking to better empower YOU to EDUCATE AND PERSUADE people you know. But . . .
We just need a little more funding, a little more often, and a little more reliably.
Right now, we need $713. Any amount you can contribute will help, but if someone reading this can do $500, we’re almost certain to reach our goal.
And that’s all I have to say today. I hope you have a good weekend. The contribution window is here.
Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.