December 9, 2018

Why Are Democrats Such Milksops?

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In November, the citizens of Wisconsin had the gall to elect a pair of Democrats to the offices of governor and attorney general. The Republican legislature, by remarkable coincidence, quickly decided that December was the perfect time to strip the governor and attorney general of many of their powers. This needed to be done quickly so the legislation could be signed by the lame duck Republican governor before he steps down in January.

So what does the incoming Democratic governor plan to do about this?

Wisconsin Gov.-elect Tony Evers (D) said Sunday that he may take legal action to block Republicans’ lame-duck measures to limit his authority upon taking office, calling their effort “a mistake.”

“I’m not making any promises one way or the other, but we’re looking at all issues, all options on the table,” Evers said in an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press.”

Have you ever seen the difference between Democrats and Republicans demonstrated so starkly? If the roles were reversed, Republicans would have long since declared war. They’d have a huge team of lawyers with lawsuits ready to file the moment the legislation was signed into law. Fox News would be screaming 24/7. The incoming governor would go on TV to loudly declare that he was going to ignore the law and continue exercising his traditional powers—and the incoming attorney general would back him up completely.

But Tony Evers, a Democrat? He “may” take legal action but he’s not promising anything.

Fucking hell.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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