I am suffering from an email overload...

This is something I have been wanting for months to post here. I have been resisting that impulse, for reasons that I will explain later.

I get dozens of emails every day from various Democratic and left-leaning candidates and causes. They all are asking for money. They all are promoting causes and candidates I favor. I wish those candidates and causes well and hope they succeed.

However, there is no way I can give money to more than a small fraction of them. As I said, I get literally dozens of them in my inbox every day. They ask for $3, $19.67, $10, some of them even ask for just $1. (How do you give $1? Doesn't it cost more than that just to use the credit card?) If I gave that minimum $1 to each and every one of them, that would be $36 every day that I give away, guesstimating that I get three dozen of these pleas per day (I haven't actually counted them).

Giving away $36 per day is WAY more than I can afford. That's more than a thousand dollars a month, $13,000 in a year. I am just a retired fellow, living on a monthly pension and social security, struggling to get out of credit card debt now that I finally have just managed to finish paying off my house and car.

I always feel really guilty when I just go past these pleas for money, especially because I hope these candidates and causes succeed. Some of them I REALLY, FERVENTLY want to succeed. I can't think of anything I would love more than to get that arrogant con man out of the White House, for example, and to get the turtle out of the Senate. I actually did give $5 to Amy McGrath's campaign the other day. But, usually, almost always, I have to just go past the part of the email where they ask for money. And I always feel really guilty about it. Especially when they're only asking for $1 or $3.

So why am I posting this? I'm just trying to get it "out there" so that there will be somebody who understands why I'm not giving them money.

And why have I resisted the urge to post this for months? It's because I don't want to seem to be complaining about these people who are sending me this avalanche of emails, and I don't want to discourage them from doing so. Out of every emailing there will be a certain percentage of positive responses, and they will get donations in support of their causes, and because I support those candidates and causes, I want those donations to keep coming, even if I am usually unable to contribute to them.

Now there, I've finally gotten this off my chest. Thank you to those of you who have taken the time to read it.

-- Ron