the democratic party understands only one thing -- money, or the lack of!

which is why i returned four democratic party postage-paid envelopes this morning with no check and a message -- and am asking you to do the same.

i asked nancy pelosi (dccc 2006 NEW DIRECTIONS SURVEY), "when will we have congresswomen from new jersey and massachusetts?" i asked the dnc, "when will howard dean answer my letter?" (yet another copy included).

millions of women have earned the right to use those envelopes to tell the democratic party what we think and what we want -- especially when they want us to work and vote for democrats year-after-year with pitifully few seats at decision-making tables to show for it. the u.s. is 68th in the world for electing women with 15.4% of congress, and there are no women in either house of congress from 19 states -- have i said that before?

we can still be good democrats (or republicans) by giving directly to campaigns of our choice rather than to party entities. first and foremost, we can and must support women candidates -- and there are plenty out there who deserve our help.

until both major political parties come up with CONCRETE PLANS TO ELECT MORE WOMEN TO CONGRESS so we can achieve 5050x2020, they do not deserve our dollars so they can give them to candidates of their choice who are mostly men. we can only make headway if women leverage their dollars and both parties stop using women to perpetuate the status quo.

support your party with dollars to candidates, not to party machines that have made no real commitment to equal representation. congressional majorities can be built just as easily with women in those seats -- and don't let them tell you otherwise!