In which I offer money in exchange for bedfellows.

Okay, so here’s the deal. The Strangebedfellows coalition, which you have undoubtedly heard about if you’ve been reading Glenn Greenwald or AOTP or following the Barr campaign of late, is an extremely admirable left-right alliance centered around issues of civil liberties and the abuse of government power – issues which are, in case you needed reminding, at the very heart of what it means to have a free society with a limited government. But no merely written or spoken protections mean anything unless the citizens of that society take the initiative to stand up to governmental abuses – because heaven knows the state isn’t going to take care of itself. And as the terms of the recent FISA “compromise” make quite clear, politicians who think that they can put themselves forward as defenders of civil liberties without ever facing real political fallout from failing to do so will do just that – i.e., fail – until it becomes clear to them that this can an issue with consequences for them, too.

This is the rationale behind the Strangebedfellows’ AccountabilityNowPAC, which aims to support (Democratic, Republican, or otherwise) primary candidates with a real commitment to civil liberties against opponents whose rhetoric or legislative history shows that this is an issue on which they cannot be trusted. The AccountabilityNowPAC’s upcoming moneybomb, which is organized by the same guys behind Ron Paul’s $4.2 million day, is scheduled for August 8 (yes, that August 8), and is aimed at helping to raise this issue to a more prominent place in our nation’s political consciousness. This is important stuff, and it’s a cause that you ought to put a few dollars behind.

Anyway, here’s my offer. For every dollar that readers of this blog – and I know that there are at least a few of you out there! – pledge to donate on August 8, I’ll match it with a dollar of my own. My own funds are limited, and so I can only do this up to $100, but if we do manage to meet that amount I’ll feel like we’ve done something pretty significant. You can make a pledge here – once you’ve done this, either leave a note in the comments to this thread or e-mail me with the amount you’ve pledged (I’ll keep your information entirely confidential, of course, even though we can’t be sure who else might be watching) and then make sure to return on August 8 to actually give your money away. I’ll post the occasional reminder between now and then, but it’s better just to make your promise now and get it over with than to keep putting it off.

Got that? You donate, I donate – dollar for dollar, up to $200 total between us. Whether $1, $5, or $10 comes from your end, all of it counts for something and all of it will be doubled by me. If we somehow get beyond that $200 upper bound, then I’ll try to think of something else to do to keep the money coming. This is the first time I’ve tried to do something like this, and if it has any success then I’ll make a point to do it again. So come on, readers – reach for your checkbooks and pony on up.

Filed under: civil liberties, politics