The Counter-Currents 2013 Summer Fundraiser 
There We Go

^[1]632 words

“The highest use of capital is not to make more money but to make money do more for the betterment of life.”— Henry Ford

Contribution to a great cause ennobles. I was going to write a rondeau on the subject, with every refrain being “contribution” but . . . I decided that such an approach might trivialize both the focus and the form. And, there is nothing trivial about contributing.

Counter-Currents is a publisher and a point of light; neither of which tend toward becoming great commercial powerhouses in the modern world—instead they combine in a great and noble undertaking and commitment, operating both outside of the mundane marketplace and inside the world we have.

Commercialism panders to consumers; the most successful commercial enterprises offer goods that are palatable enough to be bought in large amounts by the widest diversity imaginable. Most of that diverse ilk would certainly not be at home here at Counter-Currents, and would not spend any time (let alone money) perusing the tomes on offer at the right hand side of the page. At the most, I imagine the average semi-interested consumer might come peeking at the essays and reviews, with sidelong glances towards the windows in case anyone catches them here, but would never (never!) use the Amazon portal for fear of being somehow caught out. (“Who cares” you say. Or “By whom?” you ask yourselves, but you are not they . . . ). And as far as expecting the average web-surfer to be donating to the cause—let’s face it, they would rather get a root canal than send any sort of monetary support Counter-Currents-wise, even if they sort of, kind of, think there’s something to what the site is saying . . .

So, it’s up to us, I’m happy to tell you, to fill the coffers of Counter-Currents enough to keep it running, day to day, outside of the mundane marketplaces we have no interest in having it cater to. We are the contributors and we are the readers; we are the reason and we are the ability. It’s a noble endeavor—and a worthy one. When you are expected to ask yourself, years from now, what you could have done to make the world better, you will be able to look Time in the eye and replay “I did it—I supported what I believed in enough to help keep it going.” And if enough of us do so, we will leave behind us a world that we will be so proud of having helped save, and helped form. Through Counter-Currents.

Do I make it sound too grandiose, this donating of a sum of money to a publishing house?

I do a little, I guess, and yet I don’t. Don’t belittle your donation. Don’t think it won’t matter if you do or you do not contribute. There’s nothing trivial about sending money to Counter Currents—nothing little or insignificant or not worthwhile—because this place, this movement, this bid for history, hums on money, right now, as much as it hums on anything else. Cold hard cash has no heart, no soul, and no direction of its own—but it has a value to those who have heart, it can be used devotedly by those who have soul and it can go any direction you aim it at.  Spend it wisely, spend it well, and use it for as good as you can, as much as you can.

Because contribution to a great cause ennobles. Both the cause and the contributor.

As a final note, all proceeds of my book “I do not belong to the Baader-Meinhof Group” and Other Poems  ^[2]go directly to Counter Currents. Admittedly, it’s a formalist poetry book, so J. K. Rowling-type profitability is a bit distant, but still, when you purchase it—there we go.

Editor’s Note: Visit the Counter-Currents Donate page here ^[3].