The results of yesterday’s election reveal a complex political landscape. Yes, there were some unexpected wins. But, overall the results were grim, as candidates who wish to roll back decades of social and economic progress were swept into office. Instead of debates about how to create jobs and rebuild our country, in these midterms we got vicious and misleading attack ads funded by anonymous corporate donors.

As we saw in this election, the Supreme Court’s dramatic assault on our democracy in Citizens United has opened up the floodgates to unlimited corporate funding of candidates.  As Bill Moyers says, this money "is a dagger directed at the heart of our democracy."

Our country’s core values of tolerance, decency and fairness are threatened. But this is no time to despair.  It is time to stand and fight and fight for something better—for a real debate about ideas and for a small d democracy. The Nation is committed to that work, and to ensuring that our truth-telling journalists lift their ideas into our country’s all-too narrow debate.

In that spirit, our award-winning investigative journalism will continue to serve as an indispensable corrective to the tired Beltway wisdom and the infotainment too often confused with news.

• We will continue to expose abuses of power and investigate corruption wherever they may lurk–whether in Washington or on Wall Street.
•  We will find choke points to block dangerous GOP initiatives, and make it clear to Democrats that the days of going along with the party of no in the failed pursuit of non-partisanship have to end.
•  We will renew our efforts to cover sweet victories–new initiatives, organizing triumphs, new leaders and visions
• We will continue to support talented, passionate young reporters eager to do the hard work of breaking and interpreting news.

But the road ahead will not be easy.

With a half million dollar deficit, we don’t have nearly enough money for the quality journalism and investigative reporting that we want to do—the reporting that is needed now to forge a politics and culture of decency, dignity and fairness.

We need your help to get those reporters out into the field. We need your support to hold leaders on both sides of the aisle accountable. And we are counting on your loyalty to move forward many of our exciting (but expensive) new initiatives online and in print. 

In these times when the heart and soul of our country is at stake, we will never waver in defense of our rights and liberties and economic justice. But we are asking for your help to do it.

We can’t allow cynical politicians and greedy lobbyists to determine our nation’s affairs away from the glare of the spotlight.  At the crossroads for our politics and our media, please make as generous a contribution as you can to enable The Nation to continue its historic work. This is a time for conviction, not caution.