Hello Nation Associates,
You might have seen an email from me, or read one of my articles in our magazine — but it’s not often that I get to speak directly to the people who are the real backbone of America’s longest running weekly, and that’s what this short note is for!
First of all, I have to say I’m so glad that you’re here. At this moment you and I have a tremendous opportunity — in all honesty a civic duty — to foster a hard-hitting, truthful public dialogue about the direction this country will take in the post-Bush era.
As I’m sure you know, The Nation simply couldn’t maintain our reporting without your financial support — but your role as an Associate is much more than that. The stories you read, the conversations you have, and yes, the donations you give, all help us move this country one step closer to the thriving democracy I know it can be.
I’ve seen it in the questions you ask on our bimonthly donor conference calls each, I’ve seen it in the comments you post on my blog. In the coming weeks, I’d love to hear even more. Please write to us at associates@thenation.com to tell me what you hope you’ll see from us as we continue our own reporting.
Your energy and input can help The Nation mobilize a pro-democracy movement. And I look forward to hearing more from you soon!
Best,
Editor & Publisher
Trudy Anschuetz of Monclair, NJ is our Associate of the Month. She hosts a Nation Associates discussion group in her area. Here she is answering our questions…
If Trudy could be editor-for-a-day, the story she would assign…
“That’s a tough question because there are so many great stories to explore. I have for years been interested in learning what would happen if one day all federal government lobbying were outlawed. It has been my position for years that lobbying is the crux of the downfall of democracy on all levels. A good investigative reporter might have a field day studying the results of such a law.”
Trudy’s nomination for The Nation’s “Person of the Year”…
“That would be Rachel Maddow of MSNBC. She is thorough in her research and presents very complicated material so that everyone can understand what the real story is. She is persistent in follow-up and responds very directly to her critics. If more people watched her news program with regularity, we would have a far wiser and more confident populace.”
Why Trudy sticks up for independent journalism:
“Only independent journalism can report on information that is contrary to what our government thinks we should know. Now that there is such incredible consolidation of all media under very few corporate heads we are fed “the corporate line”. Eventually we would all forget how to think clearly and develop our own conclusions. We would “ buy in” and lose all critical thought. Dangerous, very dangerous!!”
What’s it like hosting a Nation Associates discussion group?
“It’s a lot of fun! I have been hosting my group since October 2003. We are a core of about 14 members from all walks of life, ranging in age from 39 to 94, men/women and all levels of education. Some of us have been conservative at one time and others come from liberal backgrounds. Our group in quite informal and we can easily absorb new members who feel welcome instantly. Sometimes we have refreshments but most times we just share a bottle of wine. The last eight years under George Bush have been difficult and many times our meetings were used just to vent anger and disgust. We have, on occasion, written letters to the editor of our local papers and we each routinely communicate with our Senators and Congresspeople. We start on time and generally finish in one and one half hours. Any person can introduce a topic according to their interest and we generally cover many things in one evening. This month we will have a reporter and photographer at our meeting in the hope that a nice article in the local paper will whip up a little more interest in what we do. Hosting the group gives me the opportunity to meet new people all the time and compare my thinking about our world today with other “great” minds. I would miss doing it so I guess it will go on as long as there are participants.
Associates — tell us about yourself for a chance to be featured as Associate of the Month!
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