I woke up at 3:30 this morning,, and leapt out of bed – or, rather, off the couch, where I’d dozed off a few hours earlier – and went immediately to my computer. After checking the news to see if World War III had started yet, I wondered if I should try to get more rest, but decided against it – because I can’t sleep knowing our fundraising campaign is only about half over.

It hasn’t been easy, this time around, to say the least. If you’ve been checking our front page with any regularity, you’ve seen that fundraising thermometer inch forward slowly – far too slowly.

I’m not sure what will convince you to make that tax-deductible donation now – right now – instead of, say, going out for a burger. What can I say to persuade you that Antiwar.com must continue in this troubling time that I haven’t said before?

We’re about to reinvade Libya: we’re risking another world war in Syria; we’re “modernizing” our nuke arsenal to make using it both more thinkable – how many times do I have to repeat the same warnings?

Folks, I’m running out of arguments – or am I?

Okay, try this one on for size: we’re necessary. Without us, there would be almost no one to issue these warnings and mobilize the American people.

We were right about Afghanistan, in spite of warmongers like David Frum, who mocked and condemned us for saying it would soon turn into a quagmire. Fifteen years later, and we’re still there.

We were right about Iraq – there were no “weapons of mass destruction.” The only mass destruction in that country was unleashed by the US government, which killed half a million people and spawned an insurgency that grew and spread throughout the region – just like we said it would.

We were right about Libya – we said it would result in chaos, that the threat of “genocide” was a lie, and we were right about that, too.

So what do we get for being right when the pundits, the “experts,” and the politicians were dead wrong?

Well, we did get a Drudge link, which has helped us a lot. We’ve got a bigger audience now. But we’re still a struggling nonprofit entirely dependent on … you.

That’s the way it’s always been: we don’t expect any eccentric billionaires to suddenly shower us with the funding we need to get by. Our budget is tiny compared to comparable media outlets, but it’s still a lot to raise by dribs and drabs: most of the contributions that come in are in the $25 to $50 range, and it takes a lot of them to give us the money we need to continue.

So that’s why, instead of writing about the latest foreign policy crisis, I’m making this appeal to my readers.

It’s now 4:30 in the morning – yes, it took me an hour or so to write the preceding, and I don’t have a lot of time left. I need to get this column out so I can begin working on tomorrow’s fund appeal for the front page. But I just want to say one more thing before I go, or rather, I want to say it again:

What do we get for being right when the pundits, the “experts,” and the politicians were wrong, wrong, wrong?

All these wrong-minded elites are being rewarded for their wrongness: there they are, still pontificating on the boob-tube and the front pages of the nation’s newspapers. There they are on the Internet, tweeting bullshit by the hour. They don’t have to go to their readers with their hands out – they’re supported by their corporate sponsors and political cronies (or do I repeat myself?). The media outlets they clog up with their inaccurate predictions and government-fed apologias pay them handsomely to tout the War Party’s line – while we can barely afford to pay our writers anything.

It’s an injustice – but, hey, life is short and then you die. Whining is a luxury I rarely have time or inclination to indulge in: all I’m saying is that Antiwar.com has earned your support.

For twenty years we’ve been here when you needed us. For twenty years, we’ve exposed the War Party’s lies, mobilized the public against their schemes, and held high the banner of peace when practically everyone else had dropped it.

Now we’re asking for your donation of $25, $50, or – heck, let’s splurge! – $100, so that we can continue doing what needs to be done in these dark times. And now that we have $34,000 matching funds from our most generous donors, you can double you donation.

Okay, I’m done – the sky is lightning up, dawn is breaking, and I’ve got more work to do – so please, don’t delay, make that donation right now.

P.S. It’s tax-deductible!