Update: deniac83 posted a link to his diary where you can have your donation matched again (in addition to having it matched by me up to my max of $150.00-
http://www.dailykos.com/...
So far, I've given around $250.OO this election cycle. I think that's decent, and I think that this $20.00 or that $5.00 or that other $5.00 is something that I can feel good about. It's not what you give, it's just that you give something. Together, we'll make a difference.
Well, meet The Pattersons
Pam and Rick Patterson have always followed teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and tried to live within their means.
He drives a 10-year-old Honda Civic to his job at Intel. She is a stay-at home mom who makes most of the family meals and bakes her own bread. The couple, who have five sons between the ages of 3 and 12, live in a comfortable but modest three-bedroom home in Folsom.
These people are what we might consider our counterparts on the other side. Families with budgets and choices to make about how much support they can give- how much time, how much money-
Until you see what they gave.
It's a traditional lifestyle they believe is now at risk. That's why the Pattersons recently made a huge financial sacrifice – they withdrew $50,000 from their savings and donated it to the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign, the ballot measure that seeks to ban same-sex marriage.
Another family mentioned in the article gave $35,000.00.
These people are hosting houseparties, organizing fundraisers, and going all out. As Kos urges us to "leave everything on the road," these people are showing us what that really looks like. You think we're committed?
They are making financial sacrifices on a scale that is nothing short of shocking.
As I was mulling over making a $10.00 contribution to No on Prop 8 today, I came across an article, published today, that gives a picture of how our side has performed so far.
We have barely half the number of supporters that they do.
Our opponents are putting us to shame on this measure. Proposition 8, which seeks to ban same sex marriage in California, represents everything that we are rejecting in 2008 - religious extremism, persecution of GLBT people and their children, fake family values, the shredding of constitutions, the imposition of fringe Christian beliefs on the public, etc. etc. etc.
I have two holes in my roof, and it has been raining all month. I patched one, but the other remains unaddressed because I haven't saved up the cash to fix it. Mother Theresa said "true giving has to hurt a little."
Will you give until it hurts to take our country back from the forces that have sought, successfully up until now, to dismantle it? Will you give until it hurts for LGBT families who are counting on us?
Will you give one one thousandth of the money the Patterson's gave for this unconscionable ballot measure?
This is personal, and this is war.
Here's my roof fund money. Let's hope it stops raining. I'll match the first $150.00 in contributions to No on Prop 8 in the next hour.
As I hesitate to ask you to rec this, I am driven by the Patterson's committment. They sure wouldn't hesitate, and so I ask you to rec this up.
Let's offset their contribution, and see to it that it only serves to inspire us to do even more. Let's make sure they went $50,000.00 in the hole for absolutely nothing.
Here's the O2B link,scroll down to Equality for All.
or get a closer look here