All day, every day (especially at this frantic "year end" time), I get e-mails asking for donations. "Donate," "give," "gift," "chip in," "rush," "contribute," "match," "2X match," "3X match," "4X match," and all kinds of language that mean they want money. How much? "$1," "$3," "$20.24..." And of course, they have boxes, so you could choose to donate $50, or $100, or $250, or whatever you want.
It's always about something. Either it's about a candidate, a cause (violently horrible videos shown), an extra emergency, or now, a last minute opportunity to make an end of year "tax-deductible" contribution.
The request/plea is presented as having been sponsored by someone. A partial list of familiar names is in the title of this post. Norman Lear used to be one of the names, but he died this year, so I don't see him any more. (Those are for the requests I get. If you favor the "other side of the aisle," the pleas/invitations you get probably feature someone else.) Are we supposed to imagine that these names are just devoted to the causes, or are they part of the cost of the appeal: do they get paid?
Today, I got one (no headliner) from the "AOC" campaign. The title was "You Are Not an ATM." I'm not an ATM, because I don't donate to candidates, but starting when am I not treated as a possible ATM? And here's the funny, crazy, hair-pulling (if I had any hair left to pull) thing about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her campaign's fiscal pleas that don't treat me like an ATM. I replied to one of those e-mails once. I explained that I do not donate campaign money to candidates, because private money in politics is what has killed democracy in this country. We don't have a democracy any more. We have a plutocracy. But I said that we have a huge problem with American "health care," and no one could understand how the dysfunction works unless they were in it. (Except everyone knows how the overcharging works. It's just plain old garden-variety greed.) But I included my phone number, and I said that if Ms Ocasio-Cortez would call me, or if she asked me to come to DC to explain it, to her and to anyone else who wants to understand the problem, so they can try to create a meaningful solution, I would donate $1000 to her campaign. I never heard back from anyone. All they wanted was for me to activate the "Donate" button. If I didn't do that, then I didn't do anything. And they don't hope I'm an ATM, or they imply they wouldn't want me to feel like one?
But here's the thing about the celebrities whose names are featured in these appeals. (There are actually two or three issues, but we'll start with this one.) These are very famous people. And in more or less every case, what they did to become famous also made them wealthy. So, why do they want $1 or $3 or $20.24 from someone like me? Why don't they just donate it themselves. Unless, of course, they themselves are part of the expense of these outreaches. In that case, they don't give. They take. If that's the case, I should donate money, of which I don't have a lot, to give it to people who have vastly more than I do? Come on, Ms Ocasio-Cortez, I love the hell out of you, but what am I to you if I'm not an ATM? (Well, of course I'm not, because I refuse to be one, but it's your campaign's intention that I should be.)
And it's not in any way just candidates. Everyone wants to squeeze a final 2023 dollar out of as many people as they can. I donate to lots of these. It's tricky what they do with the money, though. When I donate to something like Skylands, then I know they/Mike uses the money to provide for the animals. But when I donate to any of the anti-gun groups, how do I know they don't use the money to try to grease electeds, which is exactly the thing of which I don't approve? If they give me a clue, like calling themselves a PAC, then I know to avoid them. It's like encountering a beggar on the street. If they were really impaired, and they really wanted a handout so they could buy food, I wouldn't mind at all giving them something. But if they were able-bodied, and they intended to use the money to buy drugs, then giving them money wouldn't solve a problem. It would enable and aggravate one.
So, I still don't know what to think of all those celebrities. At the very least, I think I can confidently assume that a certain list of them, like the ones in the title of this post, aren't also featured asking potential donors on the other side of the aisle to cough up money. I think I can assume there's at least superficial honesty. Even if I don't donate to candidates anyway.
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