Dear Nation Friend:

Just about this time last year, I wrote to you in the midst of a crisis. And, I hate to write this, but we're facing that same crisis for the second year in a row.

Let me explain. Last summer, we were hit with the biggest new bill we'd seen in our 143 year history, thanks to an undemocratic and unfair postal rate scheme designed in part by Time Warner lobbyists.

Half a million dollars in postage -- and I thought the new 42 cent stamps were pricey. Imagine a million of them -- now, that's what we're looking at every year. For a magazine that spurns big advertising, it's a significant amount of money. We need your help, once again.

We knew this bill was coming. Since last July when we first faced this crisis, we've been working overtime to get the postal increase decision reversed. There's good news: the US Postal Service appears to have heard us and decided it wouldn't be fair to slap micro-publishers with an even higher increase this year. But…we're still saddled with that $500,000+ new annual bill.

For those of us at The Nation who are responsible for making sure we keep the lights on and the writers writing, three words come to mind: It's about time. Time spent fighting corporate greed on Capitol Hill when we'd rather be fighting it with watchdog journalism. TIME Inc. with their army of high-powered and well-paid lobbyists. And it's time to roll back the increase and restore the Founders' vision of the postal service -- a public good that's as essential to democratic discourse as the Fourth Estate itself.

Now's the time we need you most. Your gift to The Nation keeps us independent - and it keeps us in the fight.

Your support has enabled us to keep the heat on in Washington -- your donations, your letters and calls to elected officials and your words of encouragement have made a world of difference to us in this difficult time.

We're so grateful to have you on the front lines with us, defending the free press.

Sincerely,



Teresa Stack
President, The Nation