By Judi Curry
Several years ago, when first receiving holiday catalogs, I kept all of them to see how many I was sent in the six months prior to the actual holidays. As I recall, it was over 160 and I felt sorry for my mail person who had to schlep all the catalogs from house to house for months. Since I am not a shopper, I never looked at those catalogs and finally threw them in my recycle bin just before the holidays.
Today (Sunday, September 29, 2013), I am not receiving catalogs but requests for money to help get the word out about the dastardly deed the Republican members of the House of Representative are doing to stop “Obamacare.” Not that it matters, but I support Obamacare, and think that every representative that voted to shut down the government should be recalled immediately; their salary should stop; their health benefits should be removed and they should be run out of Washington.
With that said, I can’t help but be irked by the number of e-mails I am receiving asking for $3 to help the fight; more if I can afford it. Sure, I will sign the petitions telling my Congresspeople what I think about their vote, but even if I could I would not donate monies to all of the groups asking for my help.
It is 6:30pm, and so far today I received 22 requests for money. That is just for today. Some organizations e-mailed me more than once – still asking for money but with a different reason as to why it had to be done NOW. (Only hours to go and your donation will be doubled if you send it in before 9:00pm, est.) The Democratic Headquarters sent me three requests; Move-on.org sent two. These requests came not only from organizations, but from individuals that belong to these organizations – Joe Biden, Lindsay Siler, Grant Campbell, etc. And these are organizations and people I trust and support!
I realize that a lot of money is being spent to do away with Obamacare. A lot of money is being spent by a lot of Republicans to get their way. I cannot understand why they want to harm the poorer members of our society. I cannot understand why they, who live so high on the hog do not want others to also benefit from the same resources that they can tap into.
I can’t understand why they want to lower my Social Security payments; money that I worked hard for over many years; why do they want to lower Medicare payments? Over and over again we hear of different schemes to make the poor poorer – food stamps, for example – while they have no sacrificial entities removed from their life style.
I am treating the requests for money the same way I react to the Holiday catalogs. May I suggest that all the organizations get together, create one letter, and send it to their constituents one time. If that had happened to me, I might be more apt to take out my checkbook or my credit card and contribute.
As it is – the 24 – two more emails since I began writing this – will not receive anything from me. How can I send something when the GOP and the House of Representatives will effectively shut down the government in less than 48 hours, leaving me with even less than I have right now. It sure is a screwed up mess!
Judi Curry
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You highlight what was my question also, about the money requests. Why do they want the money? What will it go for? Or is it just cynical moneyraising off the back of something we are mad about. Someone on the radio suggested that for Republicans, it was all about the mandate. Seems the SS tax and the Medicare mandate are OK with people, especially when they want to use those governmental programs. Why isn’t the media making videos of one citizen after the other, speaking up on the issue – speaking of medical problems bankrupting them. Speaking of delayed treatment because they had no money. Speaking of suffering without health care. Whole communities speaking out on how their desperate efforts to hold spaghetti dinners for cancer patients just never raise enough money. REGULAR PEOPLE speaking up. I’m with you, they say this is what WE want (defunding) but I don’t think so.
Several years ago I registered with https://www.catalogchoice.org/ self-described as “Free service to opt out of catalogs, coupons, credit card offers, phone books, circulars and more. It works. I still receive a couple of catalogs from which I’ve ordered in the last couple of years but no more inundation. I also was able to stop the PennySaver & numerous circulars from grocery stores etc.
As for the huge number of emails we’re getting asking for $3, $5 or ….. , I do the same as you, Judi. I’ll sign but rarely donate and then only to organizations like Emily’s List; definitely not to the political candidates from everywhere but here. If I gave only $3 in response to each email I’ve received so far, it would add up to several hundred dollars at the least. And they’re getting my email address from other campaigns which I’ve never signed up for. When I do sign a petition, I look for the box telling them I’d like to be kept updated, then uncheck it. These campaigns need to understand that they are damaging their own fundraising by swamping people with repetitive requests for money.
I totally agree… not only do I not send money but now I have unsubscribed from all but one or two progressive groups. They ruin it by sending multiple emails on every subject under the sun and use multiple names to do so. I wanted to get progressive updates but just signing an internet petition (or basically just passing on my email address) has equated to an invitation to inundate ones inbox with everything they can.
Stop the idle information mining and only send out reliable educated issue emails to inform us and we’ll find the right place to get involved and donate our money to the cause.