During the 2004 election, some buddies and I dreamed up "The $25 Army", a grassroots movement to generate donations to progressive candidates as well as renew dialogue about our party's platform. All in all, we raised a mere $250 for John Kerry and Ron Sims, but we meant well.
It has been both wonderful and stunning to witness the almost spontaneous explosion of a national grassroots fundraising movement not unlike our original idea, but so much grander in scale. I would bet the vast majority of Kossacks have already donated to a candidate in this election cycle, and probably to several candidates, and probably repeatedly.
Obama's campaign has been a shining example of this effort, raking in almost $350 million to date, with an average donation of $74. Despite the criticism he's received, this is the true nature of a publicly funded campaign: small donations by millions of Americans as opposed to $4600 checks written by corporate CEO's. Now, what if we took this effort of ours one step further?
August 4th is Barack Obama's 47th birthday. My idea is this:
Concentrate our next donations to his campaign for that day. Starting at midnight and running until midnight, a nationwide full force demonstration of grassroots power all at once. The $25 Army uniting in victory, as it were.
Who's with me, Kossacks? Kos? Interested in a concentrated effort on the front page, led by you?