Concerned Americans are contributing both their money and their time to defeat leftist candidates throughout our great nation. I am personally aware of friends and neighbors in Michigan who are volunteering their time and their money to help in the Massachusetts Senate race. People understand the importance of this race to our nation to slowing the leftist agenda.
For the first time ever, my wife and I made campaign contributions to candidates who are outside of our own district, including candidates in other states. We have contributed to Doug Hoffman in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, and to a PAC endorsing Scott Brown in the Massachusetts Senate race.
Whether one decides to contribute financially to support a political campaign, as we have, is a personal decision. If you decide to contribute financially, too, I have one request:
Rather than making a contribution that is rounded off to the nearest dollar, add 76 cents. For instance, if you decide to contribute $20.00, contribute $20.76 instead. We’ve started doing this and think others should do it, too. (We picked 76 cents in honor of the year of our nation’s independence, 1776.)
How could adding just 76 cents make a difference?
Adding 76 cents will serve as a potent symbol of support and puts the candidate on notice that the contributor is part of a larger movement. It identifies the contribution as one that was made by someone who is a both a strong supporter of our Constitution and a strong supporter of fiscal responsibility. In other words, the contribution was made by a Tea Partier.
If this idea grows, when a political candidate receives thousands of contributions ending in $0.76 he or she will know that constitutionally aware citizens are both supporting and watching. If elected, the candidate will know we expect him or her to support legislation that expands individual freedom and reigns in runaway spending. The candidate also will know that we are well organized and we won’t just go away after the election. We will be watching.
Adding 76 cents also benefits the Tea Party movement by enabling us to identify our like-minded colleagues across a larger geographic area. How so? Campaign finance laws require each candidate to report contributions to state and federal election authorities. The names and addresses of contributors along with the amounts they gave are a matter of public record. So, an examination of campaign finance records enables Tea Partiers to readily identify allies for future election battles.
Being able to identify allies will be helpful later if we need to oust a political fraud. Say, for instance, a Republican candidate promises fiscal responsibility during the campaign but spends like a drunken sailor after getting elected. This candidate may think that as long as he spends a little bit less than a liberal rival, then you, the voter, are stuck between a rock and a hard place. He may think you have no choice but to re-elect the lesser of two evils. Well, this fiscal fraud is mistaken. As long as the Tea Party movement stays organized the fraudulent candidate can be voted out of office during the next primary election season.
So, stand with me. Add 76 cents to your next political campaign contribution – and tell everyone you know to add 76 cents, too.
Your 76 cents can make a difference in 2010, 2012 and beyond!