About Mike Hersh
Hello. My name is Mike Hersh. I am a writer,
lawyer and activist living in the Washington, DC area. I am a pioneer
of Internet debate and discourse. I've been writing essays about
politics and economics online since the mid 1980s. I know this medium
as well as anyone.
I graduated from Cornell University and the Washington College of
Law. I founded two small businesses, then became a full-time writer
and activist. I am the webmaster of
BushOccupation.com, this site, and several
political egroups - online communities.
Some friends and I provide this site as a public service, to defend
your right to know and help you voice your dissent. Here you will
find our recent articles, and links to collected works. We appreciate
your readership, but preaching to the converted is just the first
step. We've learned it's not enough.
We need a new news medium, because the professional press squanders
its rights and shirks its duties. We must fill the void. Using your
computer and printer, you can join with us as news publishers. We
can stand up together against abuses and protect our rights and
liberties, but only if we first secure our most important rights:
our rights to know and dissent.
Rights to reprint and distribute any content at this site in any
not-for-profit capacity granted, in return for attribution and reference
and / or link to this website. Email
me to offer sponsorship, employment or for permission to reprint
or publish articles for profit.
A Brief History of the Site
The 2000 election was a wake up call that
compelled us to get involved. This site is the result. Our founders
were talking long distance, watching the 2000 election returns.
When the networks called Florida for Al Gore, we celebrated. In
shock and horror, we watched the networks recant and reassign Florida
as "too close to call." And so it remained for the Republicans and
the mass media as the long weeks passed, but we knew better.
As shown by every accurate analysis of the votes, Gore carried Florida,
and therefore won the Electoral College, as well as the popular
vote in the 2000 Presidential Election. This not counting the Republican's
illegal actions to pad Bush's totals and disenfranchise 10,000s
of Gore voters.
As the Republicans delayed and then blocked a fair, full vote count,
our frustration grew. Our angry explosed with the anti-Constitutional,
illegal and 100% partisan decision by the Five Supreme Court "Justices"
to throw out 100s of millions of votes in the name of "Equal Protection."
Rather than "get over" or give in to this outrage, we turned our
anger into action.
If this were a once in a lifetime outrage, maybe we would have gotten
on with our lives. But we learned the stolen election was business
as usual for ruthless, greedy, short-sighted people who are misleading
our nation and have been for decades. McCarthyism, Vietnam, Watergate,
Impeachment and the Stolen Election are parts of a pattern. We oppose
these illegitimate politics and poisonous policies which hurt America.
We want to break the pattern and make sure nothing like this ever
happens again. But this is a positive site. We are building a better
future for our children and ourselves. This site is dedicated to
Milo and Lucas, and the rest of the next generation.
Mission Statement
The mass media refuses to do their job. We
have to do it for them. We are building a full-service activist
organization dedicated to political sanity. We're rebuilding the
vital center of US politics in the great American tradition and
philosophy of Teddy, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. We are expanding
this website to foster open-minded discussion, inform voters, and
organize activism.
For us to succeed, we need your help. We need you to tell people
about this site, to use the resources we provide, and to take the
fight to the right-wingers, the media, and wishy-washy moderates
too willing to play along with those who stole our election and
who try to tell us to “get over it.”
There is a lot of work to do. You can help us. We need volunteers
who can write, edit, illustrate, photograph and donate time and
money. We hope to offer paid positions in the near future. We need
funds for the webspace and hard work it takes to empower you.
Disclaimer
This is a nonviolent, nonpartisan organization.
We exist to educate, energize and empower people. We engage in advocacy
and activism for progressive causes, but do not endorse the candidacy
of any person for election to office. We condemn any and all criminal
activities. We encourage lawful activism to promote freedom, social
justice, peace and understanding.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This site distributes information for educational
purposes only, to advance understanding of issues regarding the
environment, politics, health care, economics, democracy, freedom,
science, social justice, peace, civil, human, and equal rights.
This constitutes "fair use" under Section 107 of the US Copyright
Law.
Philosophy
We can build a better, brighter future if
we are willing to work together. Here we will inform each other
about events and share information, then put our knowledge to work
for progress.
MikeHersh.com's philosophy is best expressed Martin Luther King,
Jr:
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate
cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate,
violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness
in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil--hate
begetting hate, wars producing more wars--must be broken, or we
shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963.
Our criticism of the inept and corrupt may be harsh, but will remain
fair and accurate. We will put our philosophy into practice by encouraging
you to do what you can to free our nation from the Bush Occupation,
arming you with ideas and information you need. It's not enough
to oppose poor leadership, however. We must do more than that. We
have to provide positive, progressive alternatives to corrupt and
inept right wing approaches to restore political sanity and rebuild
the vital center in America.
Much of the mass media has abandoned its duty to safeguard the public
interest and report on abuse of power by public officials and private
corporations. Because the media refuses to, we will continue to
talk truth to power and speak out for social justice and political
sanity. We inform and empower the public to replace retrograde,
short sighted, corrupt and inept "misleadership" with leadership
that appeals to the best in us, and makes us a better nation. Please
join us in calling for a return of civility and sanity, mutual respect
and trust in the United States.
Submissions
How to submit articles, political cartoons,
photographs, illustrations. We need high-quality articles, political
cartoons, photographs, illustrations and other submissions. You
may submit your article or suggest an idea for an article or report.
You must have the rights to all submissions, and explicitly grant
MikeHersh.com the right to publish them. We expect you to proof-read
and spell-check all written articles.
Please send your submission or story idea as plain text in the body
of an e-mail, to avoid problems with file format. Please make the
word SUBMISSION at least part of the subject line of the e-mail.
We would appreciate a short bio.
We cannot publish any materials without authorization, or to which
others have exclusive rights. We want to provide new writers an
opportunity to share their insights and information, but any details
about your qualifications, experience and background for writing
about the topic would be helpful.
We invite well-informed, persuasive writing on topics including
the stolen election, hazards of Bush's policies, muckraking about
Bush and his top officials, but also positive, progressive articles
advocating political sanity and rebuilding the vital center in America.
We aren't paying for articles currently, but we hope to compensate
columnists and other contributors based on usage statistics - i.e.,
if they draw a lot of visitors - in the future. We cannot promise
to respond to all submissions and inquiries, but we will do our
best.
Privacy Policy
Privacy policies covering our users, sponsors,
donors, volunteers and email lists. Privacy of our users, sponsors,
donors, volunteers and email lists: MikeHersh.com will maintain
email lists and member lists through which you can manage your subscription.
We will never use or share your email address or any other information
with any other people, organizations or corporations without your
express permission.
Resale or disclosure of information to third parties: We will never
share email addresses or any other information about you with other
individuals, businesses or organizations without your explicit permission.
Browser information collected on the website: We analyze website
logs to improve our site. The logs do not allow us to identify you,
your email address, or your location, and we do not try to link
any information with you.
We may use "cookies" to improve our site and add functionality.
We will not share "cookies" or any other information about our users,
contributors, supporters, or volunteers with other sites or companies.
We will never access "cookies" placed on your computer by other
websites. We will not try to use "cookies" to gather information
about our users, contributors, supporters, or volunteers.
If you have any questions about our policies, please contact us
at: ombudsman@mikehersh.com.
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