Fellow Travelers

Opposition to highway privatization has cut across political categories, producing a few strange bedfellows.

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“Why the rush to sell our transportation systems to foreigners? ‘Follow the money’ explains all. State and local governments pocket the money upfront and get to spend it here and now, so politicians can cover their runaway budget deficits and enjoy the political rewards of spending for new facilities.”

– Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly

“It may be indeed like the Louisiana Purchase, only Indiana is the France of this deal. You are taking a minuscule up-front payment in return for a large downstream profit to a foreign company which is being handed a captive customer base.”

Ralph Nader (in a letter to Indiana governor Mitch Daniels)

Daniels “just screwed the state of Indiana and the people of the state of Indiana. [Private companies] have a license to print money here. It’s a scam, basically. And you lose control of your transportation infrastructure.”

– Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), incoming chair of the House Subcommittee on Highways, Transit, and Pipelines

Back to “The Highwaymen”

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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