No one has ever become poor by giving.
—Anne Frank
Pick a cause that is threatened by the Republican administration and donate to it.
Doing your part to keep the alternative institution of your choice alive.
One of the first things that the current administration did was to defund the National Endowment for the Arts. In the grand scheme of things, when we look at the xenophobia, the racism, the bigotry of our current leadership, this may not even seem like that big of a thing—and that really puts into perspective how so very much is under attack. By callously defunding the NEA, in one fell swoop our government is defunding countless library programs and classes, scholarships and money that might support struggling playwrights, musicians, artists, as well as public broadcasting, NPR, access to music lessons, and programs that bring arts and culture to Americans. Trump is single-handedly decimating museums, the arts, public education, libraries, as well as Big Bird and Bert and Ernie.
There is an old joke: it will be a great day when our schools have all the money they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber. Not only would the world be much more peaceful if we didn’t waste half of America’s money on killing machines, but that would surely create the most highly trained workforce in the world. Imagine how great that would be for the economy. Even just spending 1 percent of the budget to support national arts would create a new renaissance of historic proportions! (Which would also be great for the economy.) The point I want to make is that you can see the Trump administration is waging war by defunding these things, waging a war against education, against libraries, against the arts and humanities. A war against culture.
Everywhere we look we see areas under threat from the government’s agenda. The fact of global warming is dismissed as a hoax, refugees are turned away as Republicans lower immigration limits, environmental protections are rolled away in a bogus pledge to bring coal energy back. Meanwhile the president and his crew set a new low for thinly veiled language that belittles women, African Americans, Latinos, Jews, you name it.
When Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria, millions of people were left stranded without electricity, supplies, or clean water, while the Trump administration dragged its heels to lend aid. Trump’s excuse was to say Puerto Rico is “an island surrounded by water. Big Water. Ocean Water.” While the president demonstrated his impressive knowledge of geography and apparent ignorance of airplanes and boats, the American people stepped in to donate food, water, batteries, blankets, diapers, and other much-needed supplies.
Money isn’t everything, but when it comes right down to it, money gets things done. Donating to a cause that you believe in makes a direct, immediate, positive impact. You can and should pick the cause that you feel personally drawn to and contribute to that. Whether you can afford to give a lot or just a few bucks, charitable causes and organizations need our help now like never before.
In no particular order, here is list of some great places to consider donating to.
Women’s health (plannedparenthood.org)
Global warming (nrdc.org)
International Refugee Assistance Project (refugeerights.org)
The Trevor Project for LGBTQ youth (thetrevorproject.org)
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (maldef.org)
ProPublica, nonprofit journalism (propublica.org)
Global Fund for Women (globalfundforwomen.org)
NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (naacpldf.org)
Wildlife Conservation Society (wcs.org)
Hispanic Scholarship Fund (hsf.net)
American Civil Liberties Union (aclu.org)
National Alliance to End Homelessness (endhomelessness.org)
International Peace Institute (ipinst.org)
Oxfam America (oxfam.org)