America turns 250 today. Here's how you defend it.

$250 for the 250th, or full membership for $36 before midnight Sunday.

Two hundred and fifty years ago today, a group of colonists did something genuinely reckless.

They put their names on a document telling the most powerful empire on earth to go to hell. They pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor—and they meant it literally, because if the revolution failed, King George was going to hang every last one of them.

They won anyway. And they handed us a country.

Today that country turns 250. And here’s the uncomfortable thing to say on its birthday: the people running one of our two major parties would trade the entire experiment for a strongman, a loyalty oath, and a flag they alone get to define.

Trump says it out loud now.

They’re not hiding it. They’re campaigning on it.

So on America’s 250th birthday, I’m asking you to do the modern version of what those colonists did. I’m not asking for your life. I’m not asking for your fortune. I’m asking you to plant your flag.

Become a Founding Fascism Fighter

$250—one dollar for every year this country has managed to survive—makes you a founding member of what we’re building at Blue Amp Media: independent media that names the predator class, refuses to sanewash a coup, and fights this thing in broad daylight. You’ll be on the founding roll for the fight that decides whether we make it to 251.

And if $250 isn’t the number you can do this year—I understand completely—there’s an accessible door, and it’s about to close:

Full membership is $36 for the year. That’s 40% off. Roughly 3 bucks a month. And that price is gone Sunday, July 5, at 11:59 p.m.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, defending this country took muskets. Today it takes independent media that won’t flinch and won’t both-sides an authoritarian movement. That’s the fight. I would be honored to have you standing in it with me.

Happy birthday, America. Let’s make damn sure you get to 251.

—Cliff