Chapter 5 Liberal Party Fundraiser

The Montgomery County Liberal Party is very strapped for money, so we held a fundraising gala.Everyone voted, and it was held at the Nile Bar in Philadelphia on the night of December 18th. There, a person's drink consumption is about 20 dollars, and there are three grades of donations: friends of freedom, 50 dollars; lovers of freedom, 100 dollars; fools of freedom, 150 dollars.There is also a raffle where half of the money raised goes to prizes and the other half goes to the Liberal Party.But if you are short of cash, that’s okay, you can just come back after eating and drinking, and you can participate in the activities in the same way.The event was mainly a speech by Gary Nolan, a presidential candidate of the Liberal Party, and social discussions among everyone.

Logically speaking, I am not a U.S. citizen and cannot donate to political organizations, but our Montgomery County Liberal Party is registered as a non-political non-profit organization, so I can also participate.A total of more than 20 people came tonight, and only half of them were active members of the Liberal Party in Montgomery County. There were also Liberals from other counties and even New Jersey, including David John, whom we supported last time.I didn't know anyone around the seat assigned to me, so I had to bite the bullet and socialize with everyone. Fortunately, the Liberals were basically very talkative, and they quickly became popular.

Sitting across from me was a blonde woman and her husband.She is a freelance writer in New York. She has published a few books, but the sales volume is average. They are all books that talk about life, society, and politics.She said that she had never heard of the Liberal Party before, but she did not agree with the ideas of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, so she has been wandering around.Then I met her husband. He was a Liberal Party member for many years. He used to live in Pennsylvania and ran for office. Of course he failed in the end. Later, he moved to New Jersey. After meeting her, he deceived her easily. It turned her into a Liberal.When she said this, I was very happy: I am not the only one who has never heard of the Liberal Party.In addition, I am also very interested in writing, so the more we chat, the more speculative we become.

Seated to my left was a man in his mid-40s with long hair who also joined us.First, we introduced each other, and he said that he also works in computers.But after further questioning, it turned out that he didn't write software and hardware, but carved music CDs for others, and also did packaging and so on.I was very happy to hear it again, and immediately claimed that I was also very interested in music, and chatted about music again.He also plays guitar, but doesn't have his own band. While chatting happily, the show at the Nile River Bar came.Amidst the sound of Middle Eastern music, a dancer danced with her belly twisted and walked between the tables.Everyone applauded.She invites the guests to dance with her.Many young people at the other table happily got up and danced with her.When she invited us to our table again, everyone was more reserved, and only a few people accepted the invitation.

Gary Nolan is an Arab-American who is running for president. Although he has not yet been nominated by the National Liberal Party (this meeting will not be held until May next year), he is also the most important guest of honor tonight.He sat on my left side, and everyone naturally urged the dancing girl to dance beside him. Gary himself is a radio talk show host, so eloquence is superb.After everyone finished eating, he was invited to speak.First, his campaign manager, motivating everyone to contribute to his campaign. Gary gave a speech that was nothing more than his campaign platform, the main points of which were typical Liberal views, and I was not impressed.When talking about the situation in Iraq, he emphasized that the U.S. military should withdraw immediately, and everyone applauded.After he finished speaking, everyone asked questions, and then talked about the situation in Iraq. He said that Americans should not meddle in the world's affairs, and there is no need to sacrifice their children's lives for other people's affairs.

I didn't agree with this isolationism, so I raised my hand and asked a question: Don't you think the United States should take some kind of responsibility in the world?For example, when Iraq invaded Kuwait. He said: Do you know why Iraq invaded Kuwait?In fact, before Saddam invaded Kuwait, he greeted the Americans, and the Americans said, no problem, you can do it.As a result, as soon as the Iraqis invaded Kuwait, the Americans immediately organized coalition forces to drive them away, took the opportunity to station in the Middle East, and this time took advantage of the situation to uproot Saddam Hussein.What he meant was that all of this is a conspiracy of US imperialism.How beautiful the world would be if the Americans hadn't been involved in this messy water (this sentence is derived from me).

I'm not convinced by his statement, but I can't refute the insider truth he quoted.He took advantage of the momentum and ended his speech. Then there's the lottery.Prizes include books, daily necessities, and T-shirts printed with "2004: BushorLiberty (Bush or Liberty)". The first prize is cash, and the amount is not an integer, but more than 90 US dollars.I thought it was strange at the time, but I figured it out later, because the lottery is to donate half of the money to buy the tickets to the Liberal Party and half to the lottery drawers. You know, so the last prize is the total income minus the cost of other prizes, which is a strange number.

When the first prize was drawn, it was a Montgomery Liberal who got it.Someone shouted: "Why don't you just donate this money to the Montgomery County Liberal Party?" Jim, who drew the lottery, laughed and said, "Of course we will be very happy if Joe donates this money to the Montgomery County Liberal Party." Shout: "Donate to Gary Nolan's campaign!" The winner stood there with a look of hesitation.I watched it and thought, um, I would be reluctant to change it.At this point someone yelled: "Be a Liberal! Hold on to your own wallet!" Everyone laughed and applauded.I applaud too.In terms of economy, the Liberal Party really advocates that money should be controlled by itself, rather than handed over to the government to make overall arrangements.I heard later that he donated $30 of it.

In this donation gala, we earned a total of more than 1,000 U.S. dollars. After deducting various expenses, our net income was more than 500 U.S. dollars.Although not much (I heard that Bush's donation gala, the lowest entry ticket is also worth 1,000 US dollars), but it is half of our total account.