There’s no denying that the election results in Rhode Island were disappointing. Even during a Republican surge year featuring the Tea Party movement, right leaning reformers made modest gains in the General Assembly and came up empty-handed in other state government offices.
But this is Rhode Island, and hope is not irrational. Republicans running for the offices of governor and the first congressional district seat did much better than would have been expected under normal circumstances. The Democrat Secretary of State barely held his office. In some municipal elections (notably in Tiverton), reformers’ years of efforts are beginning to yield offices and fresh candidates to begin climbing the ladder of public office.
All of this is to say that there is a base for our message. Not every Rhode Islander who has woken up to the necessary changes in the state’s operations has fled in despair. Change can still come to the Ocean State and may be more likely once the General Assembly has taken full advantage of the negative opportunities that our new governor will present to pull government policy in the wrong direction.
Of course that “may” in the previous sentence is still necessary. Change will take work in shoring up the reform movement and making the case to those who’ve not given civic matters much thought. And that’s where Anchor Rising comes in.
Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll be reviewing some of the positive effects that we’ve had, so far, even as a gang of hobbyists experimenting with new media. Our research, our videos and audio, and our outside-the-RI-box commentary have all had a visible effect on the civic conversation.
Unfortunately, we simply can’t keep up those activities that make blogging more than a pastime any longer. Oh, we’ll keep blogging, because we’ve caught the bug, but unless we can manage to fund at least one full-time job, we cannot be as active as we’ve been in fostering, promoting, and reporting on the movement and conservative ideas.
Knowing how critical the next two years — and the election that follows — will be, we’re making a push for advancement rather than stasis. So, we’re asking Anchor Rising readers and supporters to pledge support for 2011. Email or call (401-835-7156) Justin with the amount — in subscriptions, in donations, in advertising — that you’re willing and able to contribute for the year, and when we hit the threshold at which one of us can make a living from it, we’ll ask you to convert those pledges into money. For some perspective, it’s going to take about ten times our usual annual revenue, but the good news is that even ten times the money is still not all that much, in the scheme of politics and media.
Over the last six years, we’ve done a lot of great work, steadily grown our audience, and had a substantial effect on politics in Rhode Island; imagine what we could accomplish with more than a couple of hours per day to devote to the project. We’d broaden and deepen our reading and commentary on issues relevant to Rhode Island and the individual cities and towns that make it up. We’d highlight and cover more events relevant to Rhode Island’s reform. We’d expand the niches into which our message reaches.
Again: pledging to help Anchor Rising will cost you nothing until we can actually deliver on the promise of a full-time effort. We’re not non-profit, so the privacy of donors will be absolute. Please, consider how much you can afford to donate (and how much you can afford not to) and email or call (401-835-7156) Justin.