Exposing Corporate Power, Empire and the Koch-Funded Radical Right

Dear AlterNet Reader,

I'm writing to ask for your help in supporting AlterNet as we all confront some of the toughest odds we have faced in working to make our country and world better. We count on our readers to back us up, and now is the time to help us keep up the pressure.

We are digging in for the long run, and we hope you are too. Will you support our hard-hitting, stick-in-the-eye journalism that reaches and gives hope to millions of readers?

What We Are Up Against

There is no way to sugarcoat our situation. These are very tough times. We've got three huge problems to overcome and they are daunting.

Corporatocracy: No matter what fundamental issue we tackle, whether it is health care, economic inequality, global warming, telecommunications,and even education, we face a wall of corporate dominance: thousands of lobbyists and hundreds of millions in campaign contributions that buy up friends in Congress and the White House.

And now, with perhaps the worst Supreme Court decision in 100 years -- Citizens United, which bestows corporations with the rights of people -- corporate powers and the Chamber of Commerce can run roughshod over the democratic process.

We have no choice but to battle this "corporatocracy" at every step, not giving up an inch without a fight. Please, now is the time to help. We need to hit $55,000 in this quarterly campaign to keep our operation running full blast.

American Empire: Our country's quest to dominate the world with weapons and mega dollars is corroding and destroying us. We are wasting billions of dollars every week. We are now involved in Libya and sabre-rattling at Iran; we loom over the world, with no self-control to curb our expansion. Recently, journalist Chris Hellman, writing for TomDispatch, calculated that the real annual military budget is $1.2 trillion -- an astounding number.

Empire distorts our priorities, distracts from the needs of our people, and propels us on a treacherous, never-ending path of death and destruction. And what about the many thousands of solders who return home with PTSD and tragic injuries? Or those who don't make it home at all?

The Radical Right: Corporate dominance and empire are supported by conservatives at every turn. Their propaganda machine never turns off. The Radical Right's latest initiative is to wreck Medicare, a program that makes our country great.

The Koch brothers' billions are behind every one of the Radical Right's efforts to destroy unions, end public education, and undermine every aspect of protecting the environment. They must be stopped.

Positive Steps

Using financial support from our readers' contributions this winter, we now have an Activism and Vision special coverage area with strong editorial resources, and a full editorial team. We are increasing our efforts to expose the fallacies of empire and move toward peace.

Every day, we fight the Kochs and the Radical Right with quality investigations like our DC Bureau Chief Adele Stan's piece last week, "Wall Street Journal Honcho Shills for Secret Worker 'Education' Program Linked to Koch Group," which exposed the nefarious links between the Kochs' union-busting worker propaganda programs and the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal.

The fight goes on, and we have to be relentless. Please step forward and join us. We are all in this together, and we can't let down at all, because the corporate right-wing juggernaut never rests. So we can't either.

Please make a contribution to AlterNet's relentless journalism. It is one investment in a better future.