I am not the only person inundated by end of the year appeals for donations, and frankly it is overwhelming. I can use the delete button, but one email request I received illustrates for me one element of the real issue- why people are so turned off by today’s politics and SO READY for a real change to come to the way our government works. It isn’t just the Tea Party crazies on the Far Right. The Left and Progressive candidates struggle too in getting the base to offer their support.

One reason jus that people are demanding a level of truth in politics that no one seems able to provide, and this appeal by Dick Durbin is a great example of how the minds of those running campaigns just don’t get it.

Hope you’re well, Thomas. Before you ring in 2014 tonight, I wanted to follow up with you on something.

Our campaign’s finance chair, Susan, mentioned that she hadn’t yet seen a contribution come in from you during this crucial year-end fundraising push. It’s the holidays, with a lot of demands on our time, attention, and resources, so I know our requests might have gotten lost in the hustle and bustle.
But if you can help, now’s the time to do it. After midnight, we can no longer legally accept contributions on our 2013 year-end report. And we really need your help to raise $7,700 more before midnight, to reach our $40,000 grassroots goal.

We’ve got to be ready for anything and everything our opponents throw at us in the weeks ahead, so anything you can give will really go a long way.

Now, Dick doesn’t know me from Adam! He isn’t my Senator, and frankly I have no idea what I did to get on his email list.  I am not a big giver to political campaigns. In fact I rarely give anything at all to campaigns, and I’d never give to a Senator’s campaign for someone in a state that isn’t Pennsylvania. But his note sounds personal. “Hope you are well, Thomas…” Really Dick, are you?

But here is the best part:

Our campaign’s finance chair, Susan, mentioned that she hadn’t yet seen a contribution come in from you during this crucial year-end fundraising push.

I love how everyone is on a first name basis, don’t you? I have worked on enough campaigns to know that NO ONE is talking to their finance chair about some no-name donor who has never given a cent to their campaign. Maybe this personalized touch works for some donors, so I won’t say it can’t, but at least for me, it makes me want to NOT GIVE HIM ANY MONEY at all. If a sentiment like this is so skewed away from the truth, how can I believe anything he says?

Sure, campaigns need cash to survive, but why is it than the truth isn’t enough to encourage giving? From my perspective, this is what’s wrong with politics- at least in part. The electorate, is seen as a source of income only- a group of mindless people who can be lured with false statements and a plea. Really? I don’t think so.

Not every request is as blatantly stupid as this one. But this SPAM masquerading as a donation request is disgusting.