If you caught the open thread earlier you might have seen this quote about Sarah Palin speaking at the Tea Party Nation convention:
This morning, I asked whether Sarah Palin’s decision to speak at the Tea Party National Convention — while eschewing the much higher-profile Conservative Political Action Conference — had anything to with money. Conservative blogger Dan Riehl is reporting, based on "forwarded communications," that Palin is making at least $75,000 and at most $100,000 for her speech. Tickets for the speech along are going for $349 — tickets for the whole convention are $549.
Wow! That's a spendy event. Good thing we do things a little bit differently over here on the left.
For those of you who have not yet purchased tickets to Netroots Nation this year, take a look at those prices from Tea Party Nation: $549/ticket. Right now you can register for the convention for a mere $250 and even cheaper if you're a student. With that fee you're getting a heavy dose of politics to carry you through the whole year plus some of the highest profile speakers in progressive politics.
How can Netroots Nation operate while charging less than half the cost of Tea Party Nation? Here's a few reasons:
- Netroots Nation isn't in it for the money. The organization was all volunteer when it first started. Today there is a core group of salaried people to run it, but it's a non-profit organization and a labor of love. Nobody's in it to get rich.
- Speakers WANT to speak at our convention. NN has never had to pay speakers to show up except for perhaps covering the basics like hotel rooms, air fare, etc. Bill Clinton? Free. Barack Obama, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, and all the rest? Free.
- Dedicated volunteers who work their butts off at the convention to make sure you have a good time.
- YOU GUYS! You who send donations and pay more for registrations when they can. You guys who buy auction items. You guys who show up and volunteer and make for such a great atmosphere at the convention.
Folks, you know what that is? That's REAL grassroots. That's people getting together to build a barn, not having a barn built by a bunch of DC lobbyists to make a buck. Yes, I'm stretching the metaphor, but you get the point.
So next year when we're all in Vegas having a good time and continuing to build this movement, think for a moment about what happens on the other side. How they can't even come up with a name for their convention without ripping ours off. How they have to charge twice as much. How they have to pay Sarah Palin to even get her to show up when we get the Big Dog to show up because he wants to talk to us.
In the mean time, help out NN a bit if you've got a spare dime or two to throw their way, visit their donation page. Let's show those tea parties what a real political convention looks like!