I had two credit cards: one from Working Assets, and one from the Sierra Club. Both got a few cents, supposedly, every time I used the card. Both were issued by MBNA, the satanic majesty of legalized usury and political bribery.
I canceled the WA one and told them I'd sign up again when they got themselves a decent financial partner. I'm drafting a similar letter to the Sierra Club right now.
Point is, there are millions of "affinity" cards out there with the logos of unions, environmental groups, civil rights and liberties groups, and on and on. Most of them are making sawbucks for MBNA or the like for every cent the nonprofits get. I wouldn't be surprised if the Dem Party and its affiliates were among MBNA's plastic fantastic lovers. It's no wonder the other side thinks we're hopelessly stupid. [More below.]
If we want to act against the MBNAs, we can start by finding decent issuers for our affinity cards. Either try to make a deal with outfits like North Shore Bank, or nonprofit credit unions, or set up an independent co-op to issue cards that work for us instead of the enemy. There's lots of money in unions and nonprofits. It's time to insist that they use it to promote our issues instead of MBNA's ill-gotten profits. The widespread disgust with the bankruptcy bill gives us a rare chance to make real change without waiting for the pols. Let's start with our own organizations.