abaya

Have you ever made a campaign donation? What made you decide to donate? If not, why?

I just made my first campaign donation today. There are two reasons working in tandem to explain this, for me:

1) I care far more about the outcome of this year's campaign than I have about any others in the past (even though I have always voted, since I was of age). It had never even occurred to me to make a campaign donation in the past; I am not registered under any party, and I never felt terribly supportive of any candidate in particular. I also was a bit intimidated by the idea of donating, since I wasn't sure how to do it and didn't feel interested enough to ask. Not this time--it was extremely easy to do it online, in a few minutes.

2) I have been living in Iceland for the last 18 months, watching all this from abroad, and there isn't much I can do about it from here other than vote by absentee ballot (both primary and general) and talk about it via online social networks. But it occurred to me a few weeks ago that I wanted to do something more... and again, seeing that I could do it easily online, encouraged me even more (I had gotten used to donating online since joining TFP, incidentally).

So I'm curious about how many people actually donate to campaigns, if y'all are willing to talk about it.

EDIT: Or, whether or not you have not donated financially, have you donated your time? I have not volunteered for campaigns in any capacity, but Snowy has pointed this out as a very valid form of political contribution.

__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran