So everybody is all: #FeelTheBern and #ReadyforHillary. AWESOME! Except, at the entire end of the day, who is elected president in 2016 is mostly about SCOTUS because the U.S. legislature will still be shit. Meanwhile, kids are drinking lead, police are killing folk in communities across the country, four million people still have no health care when they should have, women are dying and injuring themselves from self-administered abortions, and schools are being privatized left and right.

But YAY! My candidate raised $InsaneAmountsOfMoneyForAJobThatRealistically EffectsAlmostNoneOfThis

Yea, I’m probably bitter. Because since 2007, (almost a decade!) I have been publicly screaming about the importance of state and local politics. Then in 2010, I started a group here on Dkos to post about state and local politics specifically. You know, THAT 2010. The year of the Census and the big nationwide GOP electoral sweep that allowed state legislatures to skew (and screw) the fuck out of the U.S. House of Representatives for an entire decade? That 2010.

Then in 2013, I started a political services company specifically to serve Democratic state and municipal candidates. It received great reception here. For that I am forever grateful. But now, a couple years out, we are barely getting along. We’ve had some successes and have worked with a handful of candidates. We are still 100% committed to this vision — mostly because I believe this is the most powerful and revolutionary thing we can do on the left to create the progress we want. But it’s largely self-funded at this point. Which is pathetic, all things considered.

I mean, I am glad everybody is so deeply enmeshed in the presidential campaign. But I often want to say, “You realize that we have only three cycles (2016, 2018 and 2020) to shift things around in state legislatures before the redistricting that will take place after the 2020 census right?”

Like, I don't GAF who your preferred candidate is, it'll be 10 years of more stagnation unless we turn it around. We’re running out of time.

I often want to challenge liberals to name 10 rising stars in our own party. Most of us can’t. Once we finish talking about the Castro brothers and Kamalah Harris, we’re stumped. That’s because we’re not developing future leaders — who, ironically, often start out as councilpersons and (ahem) mayors.

I hope you’ll excuse my rant. But it’s tiring and guts me as I watch federal campaigns rack up hundreds of millions of dollars in donations for races that effectively comprise less than ONE PERCENT (there’s a 1% nobody’s talking about) of total elected positions in the country, while my team could change the entire electoral landscape with under $1MM. (Here’s a fun fact: did you know there are over 50,000 elected positions nationwide? Yep! I got that from the U.S. Census!).

I’m not gonna lie: it makes me worried for the fate of the country. The GOP, in my opinion, isn’t even serious about presidential races anymore as evidenced by the last two cycles. Why should they be? The liberal agenda can be completely neutralized more cheaply, easily and effectively by shoveling money into state and local politics while we fight amongst each other about shit that hardly even matters.

They must be drunk with joy.

I’m gonna be straight with you. Yes, this is a rant. But it’s also a pitch. An ask. An honest, but desperate plea to you to make a commitment — of time and money and energy — to state and local politics.

There are a few ways you can help me and my team carry out the vision we embarked on in 2013:

I know. This is pathetic. But I’m not too proud to beg.

1 — Here’s our website. You can find out what we do, and make an investment in America’s future by dropping us some coin. There are options for one-time contributions and options for recurring. And to be honest, the recurring contributions really allow us to plan. To provide the full range of critical services small campaigns need, but can rarely afford. Here’s another fun fact: With just 1,000 recurring supporters (yes, only ONE THOUSAND in the entire United States of America!) we can accomplish a TON in this cycle and grow into a formidable force for progress in the coming years. No joke. 1000 liberals who GET IT is all it takes for this thing to really to take off.

P.S. If you’ve maxed out for the primary, never fear! We welcome your generosity and assure you that you dollar is going to go much further with us than practically anywhere else you can contribute. For example, a $2,700 contribution will allow us to reach as many as 16,700 voters for state and local candidates using actual live, friendly, passionate callers. That will be the difference between a win and a loss in hundreds of races across America. AND, since we are not a campaign committee, you can give as much as you wish. There are no restrictions.

Look at Obama phone banking! You think I could get him to sign up?

2 — Also, we’re hiring phone bankers for 2016. We call them KOCHBLOCKERS! :D These are paid positions that will help small campaigns reach their voters — which is often a HUGE challenge because everybody is so focused on presidential races, nobody has time to volunteer for, say, the lowly school board candidate. But the president can’t save your school from being privatized or restore a school budget that makes sense for students or prevent nutters from deciding your kid needs to learn about how humans rode on dinosaurs. THIS CYCLE small campaigns will need callers to reach ALL their voters and we’ll be here ready to provide them that service. Campaigns will absorb some of the cost and our supporters (see #1 above) will allow us to subsidize the rest. We believe we can flip some seats this cycle by doing this work. As campaigns come on board and request voter outreach (they ALWAYS do), we and the KOCHBLOCKERS will be ready. We’ll be hosting a Q&A at the end of February and training sessions this spring. You can sign up here.

3 — Please share what we’re doing with those you know. We are not connected to big establishment organizations (not for lack of trying) and we don’t have Soros, Ben & Jerry or the long list of left-supporting celebrities on dialup. This is only going to work if regular people get on board. So share this with friends and family and fellow activists. And if you know Soros or someone like him, hook a sistah up! LOL. Seriously, though, I’m insanely open to ideas, help and connections because so far, the things I’ve done haven’t worked. I’m as determined as I am desperate. Because we’re running out of time.

Here are some images you can share in your social media circles or elsewhere. Like, I don’t really care who you support. I just really don’t. In my opinion, this is literally bigger than all of that.

Don’t forget to include the link: http://boldbluemedia.com/2016bluewave

Don’t forget to include the link: http://boldbluemedia.com/2016bluewave

Thank you, in advance.

We have the opportunity to make 2016 a great year for Team Blue. Not JUST at the presidential level, but everywhere. We can send a strong statement and drive the media narrative that we are fighting on ALL fronts and that we are determined; that the crazies have NOT won yet. We can start the ball rolling so that we have strength and momentum and a greater capacity to help candidates in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 and beyond.

It starts with you. But we are running out of time.

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