No More Dead Bloggers
Jul 5th, 2007 at 12:12 pm by Susie
Do I have your attention? Good.
I would like to point out the utter injustice of a Democratic political system that is very, very happy to take the money and volunteers the blogosphere sends its way, and in return, we get… um….
Invitations to appear at places most of us can’t even afford to travel, with no way to pay for a hotel - unless you’re an A-list blogger.
Oh, and awards. Yay!
A small handful of top bloggers gets some help: Fellowships, stipends, consulting gigs. The rest of us? Bubkis.
There is not even a little doubt in my mind that, if Rittenhouse Review’s Jim Capozzola had remained a Republican, he’d be alive now. He would have been in a well-paid think tank job, living the high life. (He did, after all, have a masters degree in foreign policy.) Most importantly, he would have had health insurance for the past six years.
And what did his talent and dedication get him on the liberal side of the political noise machine? Some free books. A life that, as intellectually stimulating as it was, reduced him to living on the charity of strangers.
People saying really kind and thoughtful things about how important he was to the cause - after he’s dead. Isn’t that ironic?
Someone from either the Democratic party or some liberal organization showed up a few years back at the Philadelphia Drinking Liberally to ask the question, “What do bloggers want?” She had, of course, already answered the question: Free Lexis-Nexis access! One account to be shared by I don’t know how many bloggers!
I looked at her. I cleared my throat. “Actually,” I said, “If we need Lexis-Nexis, most of us can figure out where to get access. What we really need is help with actual survival. Most of us need health insurance. We need computers. In fact, the single biggest thing you could do is set up a program that would give free laptops to bloggers, because so many of us live hand to mouth and when our computers go, we’re silenced.”
“Yes, but Lexis-Nexis…” she said, already tuning me out.
Yes, but.
Jim’s death has made me realize that, despite the yes, millions of dollars and untold hours of volunteer support the left blogosphere has thrown the way of the Democratic party, they will never, ever, ever give us anything more than a pat on the back. “Isn’t that cute? They think they’re special.”
I don’t know what it is about liberal groups whose leaders assume you should live on air while you give your life to the cause. Has it even occurred to them how much harder it is to get a “regular” job when you’re publicly and politically active? I guess not. After all, they’re already employed.
They don’t really understand that the blogosphere is effective because it works like a swarm of bees. Yes, we have some queen bees, but you need the entire hive stinging from every direction in order to make it work. And to do that, you need to take care of the hive.
Jim wasn’t unusual. I can name at least a dozen well-known bloggers off the top of my head that are in dire straits financially. I know several with health conditions that could become critical at any moment, and like me, they’re living without health insurance, the Sword of Damocles dangling over their heads.
And so I am talking to lawyers about putting together a non-profit to help progressive bloggers. Not, as some groups offer, to help them organize for the Democratic party - to help them personally. I plan to recruit every blogger I can for the effort. One local blogger is working right now to put together a concert benefit with a big name.
We should at least have our paperwork filed by the end of the summer. And if you, the blog reader, wants to be part of it, great. Hold a bake sale, even - every little bit helps.
I know a lot of us aren’t all that thrilled with the Democrats right now. So, until we get this foundation set up, you can directly support the people who do keep standing up to the Republican regime - bloggers, the ones who aren’t making a living off this insane labor of love. Go hit those donation buttons!
And for those of you who want to help this foundation - if you have a business, and want to donate either money or computers, great. If you’re a musician, and want to volunteer for a benefit, cool. (Anyone who has something to offer can email me at suburbanguerrilla AT comcast.net.)
We are, after all, the voices of conscience, the Jiminy Crickets of the Democratic party. Until now, we’ve stood up alone, without help from anyone.
And now we need your help. No more dead bloggers, not if we can do anything to help.
weren’t you going to get in touch with me about a grant?
And why the fuck isn’t George Soros helping out? That motherfucker is supposed to be be our capo de tutti capi.
Or is that marKOS?
We can’t apply for a grant without the 501(c)3 status.
Soros doesn’t like blogs. Doesn’t really understand the internet, barely does email.
hey susie i did my part by giving you my old laptop!
seriously i think it’s a noble cause, but can see it turning into more backbiting infighting to get the goodies. don’t get me wrong - i totally agree that bloggers are doing a true service and should have a safety net - just don’t think charity is the answer. i mean, that’s bushco’s answer to poverty and all other social ills, is it not? bein’ christian to your neighbors while you’re screwed by the powers that be?
however, i would support soros et al building a news network not owned by the same corps. that make money off of war etc.
If I wanted bloggers to depend on charity, I’d tell them to hold more beg-a-thons. I don’t think it’s charity for a political movement to SUBSIDIZE their most effective voices.
And hey, thanks again for the laptop. :>
Hi- I read about your project to start getting health care for ppl over on peskyapostrophe- Here’s the long comment I posted there, she pointed me toward you directly. I thought she was working with you on it. I imagine, that if you’re working with attorneys that you know all this already, but in hopes that I could help at all:
> Located at:
> http://www.peskyapostrophe.com/index.php/weblog/comments/10122/
>
> careful about starting an org *just* to help people with health insurance.
> I know that, at least here in Washington state, an org has to be in
> business at least three months to prove its viability as a business,
> before its employees are eligible for group rates on health care (a group
> is equal to ‘greater than one’ employee). And natch, employees have to
> work more than half-time to be eligible for health benefits through their
> employer.
> I just researched this for the Chamber I helped start up, so this is all
> fresh in my mind. While I was researching this and similar issues, I
> discovered that any member-based org focused primarily on giving benefits
> to its members (as opposed to its employees) has to be in business minimum
> two years (!) before it can begin to offer health care group discounts to
> its members (like a Chamber or other networking group). Also an org’s
> primary mission can not be ‘to give health care benefits to the
> underserved’ or something, because then you are engaging in insurance
> fraud, essentially becoming an agent in the name of getting the discount.
> Insurance is a tricky, sicko business. be careful. The idea is great, and
> also very sharky waters to navigate.
>
For a second I thought that you’d written that the “Sword of Democrats” was hanging over your heads. Maybe it’s just my bad eyes and the heat…
Organize, network and support. Sounds like a call to Unionize? As a group they could use collective bargaining to create benifits be they for discounted computers or health insurance.
Good Luck!!
[...] No more dead bloggers from lack of health care. [...]
Any way of organizing into a healthcare group, i.e. the small business health care groups that are out there?
Believe me, this is an idea whose time has come. I had a huge tree fall on my roof, and the $500 deductible is about to kill me. Either that, or the animals will for lack of food.
There are Foundation Centers in most major cities that have books and people to help us find grants and probably liberal rich people who want to give us money (that’s where artists get money sometimes). We can find them!
Who’s gonna take the weight? Who’s going to be paying for all these health care plans? Is it going to be like a giant tip jar that accepts donations and doles out benefits? Do you want the Party to pay for it? Isn’t that a little conflict-of-interesty? Don’t post bad things about Hillary or she’ll get you scrubbed from the list of beneficiaries? Can we get some more details about the structure of what you’re proposing?
Besides setting up an organization that can buy healthcare in bulk, the main thing to do is make healthcare the #2 national issue. That means recruiting every blogger to follow up on Sicko and the work that has been done on blogs already on how bad and unjust the current non-system is. Post regularly on the topic, come up with action events, provide sample letters-to-the-editor and letters-to-a-legislator, etc. I’m not much of a writer and I haven’t made healthcare an issue, but I do have some letters about other topics that I wrote online, and anyone is free to use them. Better writers could probably generate more forceful letters. And so on.
Of course, there is a danger for the rest of us if bloggers set up an organization for themselves: forgetfulness, the same thing that afflicts mainstream journalism wrt. to so many issues, including healthcare.
It seems to me that what you would need is some sort of foundation, independent of the Democratic Party, with the ability to raise funds from donors and provide grants or stipends and healthcare benefits to worthy bloggers who devote a significant portion of their time to political blogging.
The obvious targets for fundraising would be various Democratic Party politicians and major supporters of that party — I don’t know what the campaign financing laws would say about using money from their war chests to fund bloggers’ efforts, but maybe someone out there is a lawyer who can opine on that?
You could also probably get a lot of support from the sort of people who support MoveOn.org, PFAW, and similar internet-based activism. You’d have to have the foundation set up a web site where people could make donations.
Then you’d need a foundation board of trustees — non-bloggers, probably, who could employ people to do fundraising and would decide how to parcel out the money and benefits.
You’d need to talk to a lawyer about how to get that set up, but you might be able to find one willing to work pro bono to help set up a foundation if you send out an SOS on enough blogs — heaven knows there are plenty of current and ex-lawyers in the political blogosphere (e.g., Anonymous Liberal, Glenn Greenwald, at least one of the people over at firedoglake, to name just a few).
Ooh — follow up thought: If you have the foundation set up a web site, then liberal bloggers all over the blogosphere should be able to put buttons or links on their blog sites to allow their readers to make donations to the foundation to support liberal bloggers.
Heck, that’s what you could call it. The Foundation to Support Liberal Bloggers. Hmmm, FSLB…nope, doesn’t have much of a ring to it, does it. Anyone out there have a better suggestion?
I’d love to help but I am in the same situation. Self employed with a daughter with two cochlear implants(hearing). Very difficult and very expensive to get any decent coverage.
First time visitor but will bookmark and see where this goes.
Good luck and I hope it works out
Another thought: maybe a foundation isn’t the right sort of organization, given the political nature of the blogging being supported. It might need to be a political action committee (PAC) instead. I have no idea, really. Anyone out there who knows the law in this area?
This is exactly why we need national health care. Only in America would this kind of impediment hinder free speech like it does.
I’ve tried for years to get bloggers and other internet activists to work together to implement a media strategy, and no one will participate. No one will cooperate. No one will do a damn thing that might help anybody else. And we call ourselves progressives.
If we were smart, we’d band together and make it happen. But I’m not holding my breath.
Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com
Your assumption that sitting at a keyboard and sharing your insights, opinions, and surfing discoveries is akin to some sort of hero status.
I was a politicial and social acttivist on the trail of the NWO decades before keyboard kommandos came into being. I’ve got a mouthful of bad teeth, I live in an RV and I am dissed by just about every yuppie “activist” I run into.
While I am in support of your passion you have to take a reality pilll…the easiest thing in the world regarding “activism” is to sit a keyboard and rant about stuff. The hardest is to get off one’s butt and take it to the source.
Only 100,000 of us nationwide marched against the war a while back, which is about one tenth of the bloggers on the web. We all know what’s wrong and what has to be done and daily doses of incremental info isn’t necessary and obviously not very effective.
Get a million activists to show up in DC demanding impeachment and not respect the “free speech” zones or get permits, or even say please…that’s activism, not web chat.
That’s my nickle.
Actually, this is something I would support. I’m tired of being nickled and dimed to help candidates who I’m not always sure help me. But I learn a lot from reading blogs.
A foundation is not a bad way to go and can be easily set up.
Since I don’t live in the US at the moment, marching anywhere, except virtually, is out of the question. That doesn’t mean I’m not committed or that I don’t care. It just means I can’t afford to fly to the US to take part in a march and I’m too far away from the capital of the country in which I live to march there either.
Thanks.
National Health Care should be a top priority in the liberal blogosphere. It’s not even a partisan issue, but why not seize the mantle before some moronic right-wingers seize it and propose a harebrained “free-market” solution which will only result in more insurance company predation?
Americans would love national health care. It’s not free, but it’s far less hassle than what most Americans get now and a single payer system could wring costs out thru negotiation with drug companies, and redundant paperwork that is currently done by all of the insurance companies. The US spends twice as much per capita on health care than Japan (15% vs. 8% in 2003) and Japanese people, who have national health care, live longer, can use any hospital and any doctor and get adequate care.
I gotta say that I like what Frank Costa had to say about activism, he really has a point and history does prove it.
The sad truth is that there’s too much noise in the air today and not enough action. Not to take anything away from the importance of blogging or how far it has taken the progressive movement thus far, however posting crucial political stories is not the same thing as getting off your butt and getting people to vote or protests against the goverment. I’m just as guilty of the lack of activism, but I do know it’s the next step in taking back our country and goverment.
guaranteedhealthcare.org
as they say, “you need health care, not health insurance.”
[...] Should Listen Thursday July 05th 2007, 8:56 pm Filed under: Health Care, Activism No More Dead Bloggers, will get your attention. This is particularly for the progressive bloggers that live hand to [...]
susie?
what are you trying to say with this statement: “Yes, we have some queen bees,”
are you saying that liberal bloggers are queens?
while I think the self importance of bloggers is overblown, and the “effectiveness” is in question (markos… effective?) everyone should have healthcare.
the way to do this would be to have the blogging group use a group like Administaff… which small companies use to outsource some admin work, e.g. like getting into groups. Officially, you “work” for administaff and get onto group plans through their rather large group.
Then you could have a blogging alliance/business that gave benefits, even if it couldn’t pay salaries.
good luck.
PS: no offense intended, but I think political blogging is for self-expression, self-education (rather than manipulation and educating others), and to bring the public debate, finally, to the citizens themselves, which is antithetical to the idea that it’s here to function as yet another doomed attempt at a meritocracy which would find our new elite.
Many good bloggers, if judged for “effectiveness” or on the lines that journalists should be judged, are not just bad but ludicrously bad.
I too agree with Frank Costa. I have been an activist since the 60’s…not at his level tho. I love reading the blogs but being working class can not afford to donate to them all and still take time off to attend the rallys and marches. We need to be working together for universal health care and not setting up another group for the insurance industry to deny claims. Having health insurance does not mean you get health care-(ask me or my disabled son)This is exactly what the corporations want-split us in different directions instead of comming together as one voice. We need to fight for universal health care by taking it to the streets the can not ignore millions of marchers….
the easiest thing in the world regarding “activism” is to sit a keyboard and rant about stuff. The hardest is to get off one’s butt and take it to the source
And, naturally, it’s impossible that any of us are doing BOTH. I blog national politics; I’m involved in local politics and volunteering. I imagine I’m not the only one.
Get a million activists to show up in DC demanding impeachment and not respect the “free speech” zones or get permits, or even say please…that’s activism, not web chat.
Good thing I have that flying pig to carry my ass to D.C. for free so I can totally follow this great advice!
There are those on the left who have given money to bloggers for health insurance. Michael Moore gave $10,000 to a right wing blogger. Maybe he doesn’t give to left leaning bloggers because it doesn’t get him as much attention, and we all know Moore loves the spotlight.
Well, see, here’s the thing.
Bloggers are folks who, by and large, would write anyway even without an audience. It’s nice to be rewarded, but blogging is something anyone can do, and there’s no real incentive for many of us to place our hobbies above our need to make a living.
Should there be? I’d certainly answer yes to that theoretical question, but in practicality we’ve seen what happens when bloggers go pro in our current political atmosphere. Melissa and Amanda are still feeling the fallout from their good-faith association with the Edwards campaign. I can well understand other political venues observing that and wanting to stay far away from hiring or supporting “outsider” bloggers — NO MATTER HOW POPULAR — when they can just take someone who’s already in their own ranks, sit them down with some blogging tools, and have them parrot the candidate’s line every bit as effectively as a corporate blogger parroting the company line.
Blogging’s just not that specialized, so even when you have amazing talent like you and Digby and Julia and everyone else, it doesn’t matter to them. And it may never matter.
I think we should apply for a $50,000 seed money grant to Michael Moore for “Political Blog Planet”….and use half to set up a foundation for healthcare for bloggers, and half for hiring a manic fundraiser. Then political bloggers could become protected, and more socially and visibly active.
I am a person who strongly believes in the shake up factor in a society to keep it from becoming stagnant and corrupt. I believe to a large extent, many people still suffer from 9-11 ptsd…and that is why activism has not been as visible. FEAR is a terrible reason to be quiet. gigi
Elayne, I’m not arguing that bloggers should be employed by the Democratic party. I’m saying the party - and the liberal organizations - should provide some financial support - especially since we raise so much money and generate so much support for the cause.
Second, blog readers simply do not pay any attention to campaign bloggers. They don’t trust them and assume everything they write is spin. So we’re not as easily replaced as you think.
I know a little something about this. I just finished six months on a campaign and no matter how forcefully I argued my real, heartfelt positions on anything that was even remotely connected to the election, I was attacked as a shill by other bloggers and commenters. It was a real lesson.
Blogging per se isn’t specialized. There are literally millions of badly written, unimaginative blogs. The ones that are credible and persuasive? Not so many.
Melissa McEwan@28 Says:
July 6th, 2007 at 9:29 am
The hardest is to get off one’s butt and take it to the source
>>And, naturally, it’s impossible that any of us are doing BOTH. I blog national politics; I’m involved in local politics and volunteering. I imagine I’m not the only one.>>
Get a million activists to show up in DC…that’s activism, not web chat.
>>Good thing I have that flying pig to carry my ass to D.C. for free so I can totally follow this great advice!>>
I’m not sure if it is anonymity or just the times but every blog I visit seems to have people who need to make sarcastic, personal attacks. It is more frustrating to see it on one that is supposed to be “progressive’ or “liberal,” you know what I mean? It just doesn’t help us get the bigger picture.
Few of us receive the acknowledgment, health care, the “atta” boy/girl that we should get or any of the benefits of the “other side” because that is the nature of the beast.
We are fighting for freedom and equality and Hannity, Bill O, and others are over-paid and liars because that is what the NWO and Neocons want. They don’t want it to be easy for us.
For years I carried a small clipping that said Richard Nixon promised health care for all within x number of years. The paper eventually just crumbled with age like many of our dreams for a decent government FOR the people have.
The physical limitations of blogging have to be met with a higher level of tolerance for our communication attempts. I do the best I can using a WP program to spell check. I space paragraphs, etc. to help with the effort and of course, I do the best I can to say what I am thinking.
Having been extremely fortunate not to have expensive medical emergencies during the many times I was uninsured, I know intimately the anxiety that this condition creates. Wing-nut welfare is quite prevalent but Democratic/Progressive leadership needs to do some serious problem-solving (what better way to show true, *sucessful* leadership?) if they expect those people who work selflessly to get the truth out there to be around when they most need them. I agree with the comment that observes that a reasonable buffer has to exist to prevent conflcits of interest and any sort of quid pro quo scenario. The strength of progressive blogging is multiple voices/viewpoints and they are at their best when this flourishes freely. At many an atheist meeting, they made it clear that when they ask for money, the funds are still a drop in the bucket compared to the religionist war chests. The same is true in regards to the outspoken (and largely taken advantage of) blogger wing of the forces of balance.
I hope you are able to craft something effective. The stipulation that the parameters of membership or being a recipient are pretty liberal or you’ll get situations much like Edwards campaigners who said mean things about god and the right went apeshit. The benefits need almost be like tenure lest every imaginary controversy bring the whole thing down or make the program too restrictive. People truly advocating hate or violence can void their coverage but for instance someone who discusses Israel or Zionism isn’t automatically classified an anti-Semite. However, positions such as that may make some of the doner pool reluctant. Is there any way to truly enlist help where strings aren’t attached to the point of making the whole exercise a sham? I certainly hope so and will continue to follow this project. You all do so much good in speaking truth to power, and reasserting what a reality-based worldview is. I like the idea of putting donation funds (to use an analogy) to the animal shelter and related programs themselves than to individual “puppies” and “kittens.” Though they are all deserving, my funds are limited and keeping the wide array of voices healthy (figuratively and literally) seems the greatest good for the greatest number.
We are a fractious lot, aren’t we?
It’s a good idea, and essential, until we finally get single payer national health *care*. (I love that line about we don’t need insurance. We need health care.)
Sounds a lot like what the National Writers Union does. It’s an organization for freelance writers, and one of their member benefits is medical insurance. Since they’ve been down this road, they may have some useful experience to share about the nuts and bolts and pitfalls.
Anyway, good for you, Susie. You’ve always been a ball of fire.
And to the gentleman who says blogging does not equal activism: sure, sitting and writing may be nothing more than satisfying. On the other hand, it’s also the only free press we have left. That has a not-so-small role to play in a democracy. I mean, just consider that it was Josh Marshall and TalkingPointsMemo that blew open the US Attorneys firing scandal. And one of the reasons they could do that was a call they put out for information from their thousands of readers.
There’s value in this new way of doing things, just as there is in the old way.
Let me know if I can do anything to help. I write my blog full time and spend too much $$$ driving around the state covering campaigns, working on issues (like minimum wage and universal healthcare), and attending meetings I cover for my local blog. It all costs money which is very limited and seldom does anyone donate through my blogs. I got $10 yesterday and am fortunate to see that.
My day yesterday consisted of writing two articles for my primary blog, attending a County Commissioners meeting which I’ll write up today for my local blog, having a meeting about our single payer, universal health care plan in Harrisburg, driving to Bucks County to meet with Chuck Pennacchio on that plan, then attending a DFA meeting to see one of the Bucks Commissioner candidates. It probably cost me $40-50 to do all that and I got a $10 contribution to offset those expenses and was thrilled to see it.
I try to go to many meeting and events and insist on trying to see and meet as many of the candidates as I can to fix my own feelings about who they are and what makes them tick. You can’t do that sitting in front of a computer all day so that means spending money, money I don’t have.
I knew Jim and am so sorry to hear of his problems. This is why we need health care for all and that’s something I write frequently about and work towards. We do need more support from our progressive institutions and Party, I agree. They love to have us support them but don’t feel any compunction to support us.
[...] More Dead Bloggers“ Save and Share: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]
#37 a perfect example of why reality-based blogging is so vital. To lie about the story to score propaganda memes is so very typical. FOAD dirtbag. As far as undeniable horseshit goes, the right wing blogger Moore helped couldn’t even bring himself to appreciate the largesse but instead said that Moore was trying to score political points (yet he did NOT refuse the money). “The American Mind” may unfortunately represent a lot of of what passes for “thinking” these days amongst the electorate, but certainly not any intelligent argument.
here’s a thought:
http://www.nwu.org/nwu/?cmd=showPage&page_id=1.3.18
here’s another:
http://www.freelancersunion.org/insurance-home/
Susie, I have presented a response
here
[...] by Charles on July 6th, 2007 Via Avedon’s Sideshow, I see that Susie Madrak has a great rant on how badly the Democratic Party has supported bloggers who serve to get out their [...]
Mayerson, je suis ici!
Susie, I’m with you! And, in a way, it’s for Jim, isn’t it? So, lemme know how I can help. I thought I’d never do it again, but maybe it’s time for another blogger cookbook fundraiser, but this time, for bloggers. I have another fundraiser idea, but get in touch when things are more settled. You know where to find me.
Ginger
[...] No More Dead Bloggers, Suburban Guerrilla, July 5, 2007 [...]
I understand what you’re saying, Susie. But this country isn’t a meritocracy, it never has been. You’re one of the first people I can think of who ought to be financially supported by the Dems or by liberal organizations (wait, do they even have money?), but “ought to” doesn’t talk them into it.
We may hold as self-evident that some blogs as credible and persuasive, but they don’t have the same vantage point we do. To them we’re cash cows, and the way they see it we certainly ARE easily replaced by other cash cows, as a re-engaged citizenry guarantees that there are more good writers cropping up all the time.
A capitalist would point out that if no one is willing to pay for what you produce, you should think about producing something else. Funny, but that’s pretty much what common sense would say, too. I get my living and my health insurance from my employer, not our blog, and get paid to work, not to bloviate.
The idea that your opinions – or mine, for that matter – are so important as to require subsidy is frankly bizarre. How about free coffee and donuts for the loudmouth in the next booth at Dunkin’ Donuts?
[...] No more dead bloggers. Read it. [...]
RE:
it works like a swarm of bees. Yes, we have some queen bees, but you need the entire hive stinging from every direction
We might have some Queen bees, but note that Queen’s do not in any sense direct the hive, which is self regulating.
We could set up a think tank, but there is a reason why the Republicans always tend to go in lockstep.
However, bloggers could also create a Union. Unions can have health insurance, and this is one benefit of, for example, the various actor’s unions. Unions can also receive donations but I am not sure if they can be tax deductable.
I’m already a dead blogger, pretty much.
Time was when I would devote several hours a day looking at stories and writing articles. Sure, I wasn’t (and I’m still not) as good as someone like Digby, but I did what I could. I still do: I do a daily radio show on the Head On Radio Network, where I get little or no monetary return, just like all the other hosts and even the owner of the network. We all work very hard at what we do yet when we talk to investors or advertisers, what we get mostly is a cold shoulder, and a “good job”. We could do a much better job if we didn’t have to work a day job on top of everything else. But I’ve long since given up on the idea of trying to eke out a living that way, I might as well play the lottery. I can’t even get people to buy advertising on my show because their limited resources go elsewhere, even though the ads are extraordinarily inexpensive.
For the record, Markos didn’t start raking in the dough to his site until he proved he could raise money for Dems. That’s why he gets the attention he does from them, now. Same with Atrios. I’m not saying anything bad about them or about their sites, what I’m saying is that they (the Democratic Party and liberal organizations) view us as a source of cash and cheap labor. The Democrats act like conservatives in this regard, while the Republicans act like liberals, understanding that the money they spend now is an investment on future returns.
None of us are asking to become millionaires, we just want to keep fighting the good fight and not worry about where our next meal is coming from, or whether we can get the rent paid this month. We’re not in it for the money, we’re in it because we’re compelled to be in it by watching what’s happened to our country over the last thirty years or so. But you can’t eat your principles, and you can’t give your landlord a well-written article in lieu of rent.
So my posts have gone way down, and I concentrate more on the radio show, knowing that unless something changes, it will probably go dark before the year is out. And if and when that happens, I’ll just stop completely, because I can no longer afford to fight. And I’ll be just another dead soldier alongside the road.
Cup O’ Joe - Blog Of The Working Man’s Thinking Man!
Susie,
you can apply for grants prior to receiving c3 status. You just need to find a 501c3 with a mission that is similar enough that your work makes sense within their mission. They can agree to sponsor your project until you get c3 status and administer the grants until your application is approved. Most charge a small fee for this because they have some additional reporting work.
So… wait… the basic argument is that just because you write something that you, yourselves, believe is key and integral to the Democratic Party, and the nation as a whole, both of those entities are, in some way, indebted to you?
Are you actually serious? Talk about a culture of entitlement.
Actually, this sounds like a great idea… the Democratic Party will go so bankrupt trying to fulfill this plan, it will become a moot point. Go get ‘em, tigers!
quixote… no offense, not disagreeing with what you said much but Josh Marshall is a journalist that uses a blog as a tool. People famous as “bloggers” are a different breed entirely, not acquainted with journalistic standards or ethics, imnsho. Nor should they be… just saying that Marshall’s scoops and influence do not reflect that of “blogging” in itself.
I’m not sure if it is anonymity or just the times but every blog I visit seems to have people who need to make sarcastic, personal attacks.
“Good thing I have that flying pig to carry my ass to D.C. for free so I can totally follow this great advice!” is not a personal attack, sir. And I used my real name, so anonymity is a pretty silly thing to mention, now, isn’t it? But I guess it’s easier to chalk up my response to “the web” or to “my generation” or maybe to the fact that I’m just an uppity bitch than consider that I got sarcastic with you because you were being rude and dismissive of something to which many of us, including the amazing woman who writes this blog, have dedicated enormous amounts of time and energy, often in addition to doing the volunteer work that you feel we should be doing instead.
And just because you think I should be getting a million people to D.C. doesn’t mean that that’s actually the most important thing for me or anyone else to be doing, despite your evident belief that you are the arbiter of appropriate Lefty activism. Some might, for example, make the argument that a million people marching on D.C. won’t make a damn bit of difference unless the media covers it sufficiently, which makes the media reform blogging that’s going on in spades pretty important. Just saying.
Well, I guess you told me Melissa. And thanks for being kind and sensitive and not being angry and self-absorbed and putting words in my mouth about what I think.
And thanks also for demonstrating the rude, angry, insulting attitude I meet on these blogs. Sorta makes my point hey?
Who’s side do you think I am on? And what have you done in your rant on me to make things better? Be kind sister, I’m not the enemy. Did you really read #19?
[...] by Charles on July 7th, 2007 I commenting on Susie Madrak’s post, I mentioned that it is policy at the highest levels of government to keep employees insecure, in a [...]
Saturday Night Scattershot — Open Thread –…
I always liked a slow, sleepy Saturday night, they’re cheap and the odds that I can get a lot of work done on Sunday are good. I revved on rant mode this morning, I guess it’s obvious to everyone but me, but I’m wired this way, at least the volta…
I believe, strictly speaking, I’m an A-list blogger. I get invitations all the time. Only once in 3 1/2 years has anyone picked up the tab for anything. Even the “a list” gets a heck of a lot less than you think it does, and that includes people who are unquestionably near the top of the “A” list.
“Bloggers are folks who, by and large, would write anyway even without an audience. It’s nice to be rewarded, but blogging is something anyone can do, and there’s no real incentive for many of us to place our hobbies above our need to make a living.”
Interesting theory. Ever carried a major blog for a month, let alone for years? Posted 3 to 6 articles a day in order to keep traffic up? It gets old real fast and it is real work and it is very hard to do while holding down a full time job. I’d almost say impossible, but no doubt some heroic workaholic has pulled it off. Who that person would be, I don’t know, however.
Money effects how much people blog. I hear this from other bloggers all the time.
Great post. I don’t blog full-time but your point about the right pays its people well when the left rarely does is well-taken.
I would encourage bloggers to consider the Freelancers Union as a possible source for an imperfect solution to health care needs.
Also, it might be a worthwhile exploration to see if bloggers might be interested in some sort of common business or cost-sharing projects “horizontally.” For one example, if a large community blog were to set up a subsection called “get paid” or the like, bloggers might be able to find other bloggers with whom to work. I am an attorney, and a liberal blogger attorney is the sort of person I would consider going into partnership with due to common values.
I guess you are just talking about major bloggers.
There are minor bloggers who man the keyboards every day, no pay, or little of either.
Yep, a number of us will die. The soldiers in Iraq are dying too.
I don’t want anyone to pay me for my opinion. That gets really creepy, unless they are grassroots donors.
Universal healthcare would solve the rest.
Until, that is, the politicians have their way with the Internet, then none of it will matter.
The Internet seems to scare politicians across the spectrum? Wonder why?
[...] it exactly. Promises mean nothing when we’re so short on delivery. Susie Madrak pinpoints exactly what I mean, but adds a solution that shouldn’t be ignored. It’s time to take this ball and run with it. It’s time to persist on something that [...]
Susie has just raised the issue. It’s a starting point. We can discuss, refine, redefine. There is no right way to be an activist, no correct blogging approach, no need to partake in internecine warfare nor to fall back to that failsafe position of despair.
We can find ways to share tools and resources. We can find ways to help our peers when they’re ailing or dying.
We don’t need to start with the most ambitious utopian vision of what might be. We shouldn’t be sidetracked by weighing each other’s worthiness.
We simply need to develop ways to help each other out, especially in sharing tools to advance effectiveness and in caring for those who are suffering.
That’s not a blogger ideal. That’s being human.
Everything I’ve ever helped achieve via activism took persistence in the face of naysaying, and took lots more time than I ever expected.
Vision, conviction and persistence. If you don’t have these or want to develop them, that’s your choice. If you want to see something happen - some variant of Susie’s central ideas, then let’s get to it.
Blogging is real. Let’s treat each other as if we’re real. ‘Because it’s never happened before’ or ‘the world doesn’t work that way’ are not logical arguments. They are excuses, for doing nothing.
Let’s do more than that. Because we can. No matter what the odds are or what precedents exist.
Bruce, the Freelancer’s Union is great, if you happen to live in New York. But they don’t offer anything for the rest of the country. (They *could*, apparently, but don’t presently.)
And I’m not sure if blogging would fall under their eligibility requirements.
A remark towards the more general audience here: I’m honestly stymied at the hostility to this idea among many of you. Why is a union not a good idea for progressives? Wouldn’t it basically define us?
Although in another sense, I guess the difference between the Republicans and the Democrats is that Republicans are paying for direct propaganda support, and that’s simply not the case on the progressive side. Thus there is nobody to fund progressive voices because (again) that kind of defines progressives: no central power to pay for propaganda (and no lockstep propaganda to pay for.)
But more to the point: I don’t think this is a question of any kind of wish for entitlement. It’s a practical step towards assuring that our best and most prolific voices can stay that way — akin to the old Quaker custom of “freeing up”. If someone was good at preaching, the community would free them up, provide financial support so they could continue to think, read, and speak.
That’s not entitlement, it’s just plain good sense. Assuming you want to have some effect on the world, anyway — a world populated by people who get sick, have kids, need to eat, and will die if they don’t get food and medicine.
You see a similar attitude in academia — my wife is a physicist, and her colleagues had serious problems when we had kids. The idea that if she “loved physics” she would cease to have any other life was, and is, pervasive.
I think that tendency to assume a monk-like devotion to anything worth doing is what I’m seeing here, too. But it’s important to realize that by eliminating anyone with other burdens on their time and energies, you’re left with college students and the rich being the most easily heard — which, hmm, sums up Republicanism right there…
Susie, did you see this?
New Establishment Rising? The End Of the Flat Blogosphere
by: Chris Bowers
Sun Jul 08, 2007 at 16:30:04 PM EDT
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=13
I think this is the best idea I’ve heard in awhile. I just hope its something that’s obtainable for us.
Although many of us have full time jobs, more and more bloggers are quitting their place of employment, hoping to blog full time and survive.Whatever the case, we have to start somewhere.
Sounds you all want things for free because you deserve them.
Try to make your own way. Donot depened on goverment. You have it wrong. Freedom grows when people think on thier own not what everyone else thinks. Make things happen for your self. Be free and live life.