Four Things You Should Do RIGHT NOW

Posted by David Sirota at 1:10 PM on April 7, 2007.

If you are reading this blog post, you may be one of the roughly 10,000 subscribers to Sirotablog's once-daily e-mail list. I have corresponded with many of you directly, and through that correspondence people regularly ask me how they can help spread the word. So without further ado, here is my annual pitch for the four ways you can help right now (and for those armchair negaholics who reflexively criticize anyone for promoting anything, I'll reiterate what I always say: I make no apologies for promoting my work inside the progressive movement or the progressive movement itself - the problem we face is not that we have too many people promoting our movement, but that we have too few).

1. ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO SIGN UP FOR FREE: The easiest thing you can do is tell all of the folks you know who are interested in politics to sign up for this free, once-a-day email at www.davidsirota.com in the lefthand corner. Send out an email to your contacts list encouraging folks to get on this list for the signature up-to-date analysis, breaking news and occasional rants that this list has become known for. The more we have our own direct communications infrastructure, the less we have to rely only on the media to tell us what's going on in our democracy. And while you are at it, tell your friends about the Stateside Dispatch - the free, twice-weekly update from the Progressive States Network. They can sign up for the Dispatch here.

2. MAKE A DONATION TO THE PROGRESSIVE STATES NETWORK: Make a tax-deductible donation to the Progressive States Network at www.progressivestates.org/donate. Too often we focus our attention only on Beltway politics, while critical fights are being waged at the state level. The Progressive States Network was founded a year and a half ago to support state legislators who are fighting the good fight. And, as many of you know, the Progressive States Network has been incredibly successful. From its headline-grabbing Anti-Iraq Escalation Campaign to its below-the-radar work pushing renewable energy standards, the Progressive States Network is making a real impact on the issues that matter.

3. SIGN UP FOR WORKING ASSETS' SERVICES: Working Assets, through its telephone and credit card services, lets progressives spend their money in a way that fuels the progressive movement. This is the reason I blog at www.workingforchange.com/blog - because the company uses a percentage of what you spend to support all sorts of progressive causes. Go to www.workingassets.com and sign up for a Working Assets service.

4. COME TO THE ANNUAL GALA: On April 19th, the Progressive States Network and its partner organizations are hosting an annual gala in Washington, D.C. (we are having it in D.C. this year because it coincides with the National Conference of State Legislatures event there that same week). At the event, which will be emceed by Al Franken, we will honor Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) - two state legislators who have become progressive champions in Congress. We will also be honoring state-based philanthropist Deborah Rappaport, and a group of state legislators who have made a big impact in the 2007 legislative session. If you are in the area, please come to the event. Sign up for the gala here.

Many of you have probably taken some of these steps before, but as we all know in politics - the fight never ends. Thank you all for your support, your criticism and your feedback. We do indeed live in interesting times - and the more we challenge power, the more interesting things will get.

Tagged as: keith ellison, sirotablog, working assets, jon tester

David Sirota is a veteran political strategist and author of Hostile Takeover, a New York Times bestseller about the corruption of both political parties.