title | layout | permalink |
---|---|---|
About |
single |
about/ |
Liberal Tomorrow was born out of a walk, through DC on an abnormally warm January day. Between encryption policy and the democratic primary, two activists discussed how to apply the idea of effective altruism to political giving. Most people give to candidates as a political hobbyist: the check book only comes out when a presidential candidate makes an effective dunk on a rival or when a senator grandstands in a hearing.
There are three problems to this method of giving. First, senators and presidential candidates raise a bunch of money. Every dollar you or your family donates is a drop in a sea of money. A senator raises and spends over $10 million for an election. A San Francisco supervisor only spends $311 thousand for their seat. San Francisco is an outlier itself; most city and county council candidates spend $100 thousand or less on their race. Your dollar would go farther supporting down-ballot candidates. Second, it is corrosive to the wheels of government because it creates incentives for candidates and politicians to grandstand more than they otherwise would. Finally, the majority of the changes that liberals and YIMBYs would like to see in American politics needs to come from state and locally elected officials. If we want to see changes to the zoning code, more housing, more public transportation, or an overhaul of occupational licensing, we need to work at the local level.
Liberal Tomorrow is a loose group of activists looking to apply the idea of "bundling" to state and local politics. One small dollar donation might not have power, but coordinated small dollar donations lets candidates know that we have their back. That makes our issues more important.
Liberal Tomorrow isn’t a PAC or SuperPAC; that would require wasting thousands of dollars on regulatory compliance. Further, some candidates are not even taking PAC money. Instead, it is a listing of Neoliberal/YIMBY friendly candidates and their small dollar donation pages. You get to decide which candidates closest align with your priorities and donate directly to them.