Help Us Push Back Against the Radical Right

Wow! Election Day was quite a wake-up call. The results are alarming.

Suddenly, we see in graphic detail the disturbing times that lay ahead. And it means one thing. This is no time to despair because the stakes are so great.

We have to grit our teeth, stand strong, and fight back — smarter and harder against right-wing extremism. The Right's clear goal is to take over our government.

To put it bluntly we need your help, and so does the country. I hope we have earned your support.

The Marriage of Tea Party and Militias

It seems plenty clear that we are in a political struggle between two very different visions of what kind of country we want to live in and what values should shape our future.

Our investigative reporter, David Neiwert, reported from Montana as part of our collaborative journalism project with the Nation Institute on the Tea Party movement. In yesterday's AlterNet he revealed the marriage of the Tea Party movement with gun-obsessed militia groups. In his expose, Dave takes us inside a meeting of Tea Party supporters where the popular main speaker, Gun Owners of America president Larry Pratt, addressing an aging, all-white crowd, channels Glenn Beck, explaining that the root of our political problems are the "socialist" public schools, which he describes as "propaganda centers for the hard left." 

We are in a war," he says. "It is a culture war. ...We are facing socialism, pure and simple," he continues. "They want our guns, of course — that's what every socialist regime has ever wanted to do. They want our kids, they want our money, they want our land.”

The other side is desperate to win and they do not play by any rules. They lie and cheat and contradict themselves every day  — with Glenn Beck and Fox News leading the way — and throw billions of dollars into their battle to rule America.

And that means we will ask more of ourselves — and more of you. Please make a contribution to support AlterNet.

Please Keep in Mind

The ugly push of the radical right wing is no blip on the screen. It is important for all of us to face the music and not gloss over the tough road that is ahead.

This letter kicks off our end-of-the-year fund-raising effort. We all need to be more ambitious in the face of what we have to fight. Can we count on you?

Before I end, I want to tell you two things to keep in mind:

•  AlterNet was the early warning system about the potential of the Tea Party, when few people took them seriously. Our coverage of what we named "Tea Party Inc." — the wealthy right-wingers and corporations that fund this vicious reactionary political movement — is second to none in American journalism.

• AlterNet has seen a huge increase in visitors to our site since Election Day, breaking our all-time daily, weekly and monthly records with hugely popular articles. Two weeks ago we had more than 1 million unique visitors to AlterNet, more than 2.5 million page views in seven days. More progressives are awake and angry — and I bet that includes you. The in-depth analysis and journalism you support reaches huge numbers of people. We are the only non-profit media organization with an audience of this size. Your support of AlterNet is a very good investment.

Our Goal

We need to raise $80,000 before the end of 2010 to keep our present staff and to invest in two specific goals: push back against Tea Party and Fox News lies; and cover the progressive grassroots success stories and ideas that give us hope.

AlterNet, of course, does much more every day. We give special coverage to 20 issues you care about, including human rights, the economy, the environment, reproductive rights, and much more.  We give you news you can use with hundreds of consumer stories to save you money and aggravation.