“There’s a Bag Over in the Corner. Let Us Know You Love Us.”—Spiro Agnew (Not Sourced)
By 
Hey Folks!
Elizabeth here. I know what you’re wondering—is she going to ask for money? Again?? Listen, I am, but this time it’s different. For one thing, we aren’t standing outside a sprawling trucker and commuting complex off Highway 3 in Dover. That was ONE TIME. Twice at most. Yet you people bring it up over and over. And yes, there was the incident in Bologna, Italy where a great number of LGM’s good Samaritans got me out of a three way jam with a man named Bruno and his partner Marco N. after they were able to ascertain (how?) that the registration on my Mazda was a forgery. THANK YOU. That situation had the potential to get heavy, and you came through. I won’t soon forget it.
Now, I need you to come through again, and this is arguably more important. I don’t think I’m slapping any of you upside the head when I tell you that matters on the national scene have taken a turn for the suboptimal. I could be philosophical and say that the current million-mile-mirrored-halls-of-corruption that have become the functional stand-in for American governance was rendered completely inevitable as distantly or recently as the high electronic age—when Americans, desperate to be sold anything—started to get sold to politicians on TV. Nothing in the national character was prepared to repel the combination of craven politicians and the power of mass marketing. I myself own and treasure a vintage tee-shirt with a grand throwback design that reads: “Spiro Agnew: A Great American.” It’s an indefensible sentiment… and yet. His compulsive tendency and evident joy in taking bribe money and kickbacks, looks entirely trivial, even comical, compared to the trillions in blood money that America is now on the market for. Agnew wouldn’t believe the shit they’re up to now. I’m not sure he could conceptualize it.
Listen: everybody’s got their problems, and there’s no need to sit here and play the greatest hits. But in all seriousness, I am not sure, given the crisis level of complete dissociative insanity in our contemporary body-politic that there is any amount of money you can contribute to LGM’s ongoing mission that would feel out of place or disproportionate. I’m lucky in my career to be a contributor to the NY Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, etc. I’ve had nothing but good experiences with those publications and my editors, but it has also consistently reminded me of why I was first so attracted to LGM and am so honored to remain on their masthead. LGM has no billionaire investors or legacy owners or stockholders. All it features is a host of the brightest, smartest, most insightful and essential commentators working, for free, to enrich us and help to clear the fog. It is totally independent at a time when such a thing is an absolute unicorn.
What would you pay to be a little more sane each week? What with this wellness market? Don’t even get me started! For me, a little more sanity is always attainable because of LGM. Consider this: what you might be able to pledge for that same sense of planting your mind and feet in a rational discourse. “Times are tough,” some Minnesota songwriter once said, “If you don’t believe you can follow your nose.” Follow your nose, follow your heart, do what you can, and know that if you can’t help right now financially, you can still contribute by remaining a constructive and incisive voice in our treasured community. And if a hedge fund manager out there wants to talk about making this thing fully viable, we can talk about that too. “Times are tough everywhere,” the Minnesota songwriter concludes. “We’ll just have to see how it goes.”
In the meantime, there’s many ways to give us some money, including that bag in the corner. Here’s a few more options, including an enticing silent auction where you can really win big if you get in there:
Paypal
Keep On Chooglin’,
Elizabeth