Shift the balance of power
06/30/2005
Dear DFL Member and Supporter,
I want to talk to you about the balance of power in politics—between Republicans and Democrats, and between big money from corporate interests and small-dollar donations from regular people. Things are changing, and right now we have an opportunity to impact politics for a generation. Let me explain.
As 2004 geared up, Bush was expected to out-raise the Democratic candidate by $100 million or more. Early on, Democrats realized that we couldn’t compete with a political money machine so willing to sell out the American people for huge checks from lobbyists and corporate interests.
So we went to the people. The Democratic candidates proved a new model—that ordinary people giving $50 here and there could actually finance a campaign. Put together, all of the Democratic candidates far out-raised Bush—and John Kerry’s campaign was able to do the unthinkable and level the financial playing field.
That happened because ordinary Democrats decided to take responsibility for financing the campaign. But that commitment needs to carry over into taking responsibility for building our party—so that we can lay the necessary groundwork to win elections for decades to come:
http://www.democrats.org/contribute
You can’t build what you need to win a presidential campaign by starting in an election year—and that’s in large part why they won. Republicans have been building for decades.
It is during off-years like this one when infrastructure is built (or not) and volunteers are trained (or not)—the money we raise in 2005 has as much (if not more) to do with winning in 2008 than whatever we raise that year.
In this period during 2003, the last off-year, Republicans out-raised us nearly four to one. This year, thanks to unprecedented support from ordinary people making contributions of whatever they can afford, we have cut that gap nearly in half. Meanwhile, the Republicans are stagnant—ordinary people have grown the base of financial support for the Democratic Party, while the Republicans’ numbers are more or less the same as two years ago. We’re gaining on them.
We are on the verge of doing something historic. You can shift the balance of power between the two parties and build our capacity to win elections for the long term. Please make a donation of whatever you can afford now:
http://www.democrats.org/contribute
On Monday Governor Dean announced ‘Democracy Bonds’—a new initiative to build a sustainable financial infrastructure for our party by focusing on small monthly gifts of whatever people can afford. The response was overwhelming—the number of Democrats committed to giving monthly jumped by 50% in less than 24 hours.
The ‘Democracy Bond’ initiative is about shifting the balance of power towards the people. The Republicans raise $10 million a month from lobbyists and special interests—we can double that if a million Democrats give $20 a month to make our party sustainable for the long term. We all know who owns the Republican Party—but ordinary Americans will own our party.
Whether you can afford to make a monthly commitment or not, it’s important to give now. Everything we raise in 2005 is a commitment to 2008 and the next generation of Democratic victories:
http://www.democrats.org/contribute
We have an important opportunity right now to seize this moment and reshape American politics forever. We have to build this party in all 50 states, and we have to build it from the ground up.
If we don’t act now, when will we?
Thank you for all of your support.
Lindsay Lewis
Finance Director
Democratic National Committee