Emancipate yourself from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds…
–Bob Marley, “Redemption Song,” 1980
As the 2016 election approaches, the need for a voice that tells the truth is more important than ever. There will be plenty of balderdash being broadcast in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina in the next few weeks–and someone has to sort the truth from the lies.
You will hear a cacophony of conventional commentary from those who are completely divorced from the realities of America. You will hear the scorn and cynicism that comes from those born to narcissism. You will hear well-crafted deception from those with a morally warped perception.
Here at the Washington Monthly, we’re proud to point out the prevarications of the powerful, and to declare that, as Marley put it, “You can fool some people sometimes, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.” We need your help to continue this necessary work in 2016, and to ensure that the music of American politics has a positive vibration.
If those who promote prejudice and market malevolence emerge victorious on the battlefield of American ideas, then every little thing won’t be all right–but the victory of that vicious vision is not guaranteed. To paraphrase another famous Marley line, if the forces of hatred, fear, religious division, economic inequality, endless war, misogyny, discrimination and homophobia–the forces that have mastered the “ism schism game”–are the big trees of US politics and culture, then our voices, words and ideas are the small axes that can, and will, cut those trees down.
Please consider making a tax-deductible recurring or onetime contribution today, so that we can continue to stir it up in 2016 and beyond. If you stand with us, we’ll never give up the fight.
