Citizen Journal Donations

The idea behind Citizen Journal is to provide a forum for talented new conservative voices to write and to defend their ideas, for political hacks to debate them and, if anyone's inclined, to castigate and insult each other. In all, we're trying foster honest political debate, and in this sense the inmates are truly running this asylum. Our first few months have been very successful, and CJ's potential seems almost limitless.

Citizen Journal is evolving. Within a few weeks we'll be unveiling a new "group" blog that will combine most of our existing bloggers and a few new ones under one roof. (Our bloggers aren't paid by CJ, but they do have mortgages, jobs, kids and such, and it's almost impossible for them, individually, to post regularly enough. With the "group" format, you'll see more current entries.) Soon we'll also be creating a permanent home for some of our contributors and adding more functionality and snazz, both of which the site sorely needs.

CJ is about a message, not a play for an early retirement, for anyone involved. The "start-up" costs we've incurred to date (site architecture & design, domain names, hosting, etc.) have been funded about 95% by my VISA card, with the remainder coming from a handful of generous readers, fans (I think) and friends. But as the site progresses, more expenses aren't far off, and this is why I must ask for your support and, for a bit, I'm going to annoy a few people and ask the site's readers, right there on CJ's front page, to consider donating.

Your contribution will help pay for ongoing maintenance and development costs. It's easy to donate, and I hope that if you're able, you'll consider donating $20 or more. You can do so (see below) via PayPal, VISA/Mastercard, or "snail mail." Or, you can buy some CJ paraphernalia through Café Press, although I'd note (with all respect to Café Press, who will be retiring early), CJ sees just an itsy bitsy slice of the purchase price.

We really need your support. With your help, 2005 will be a great year for Citizen Journal and for the cause it represents. I'm not a big fan of asking for money from anyone, but in this case I think it's worth doing so.