Firestorms, floods, hurricanes, cyber-attacks, nuclear threats, weekly mass killings: worse yet, the Tweeter-In-Chief turns every misfortune into an opportunity to blame others, to glorify his own deranged vision of himself and further divide a citizenry whose rifts are old, deep, and often mean. On Capitol Hill, the Democrats are paralyzed while the Republicans gleefully roll back every piece of progressive legislation of the last 90 years. Everything from the EPA to arts funding is on the chopping block. Hard won victories cannot be eliminated because of the spiteful whims of a few.

For six decades onstage the San Francisco Mime Troupe has championed the struggle for human rights for all by showing the intersection of human experience that makes us more same than different. Today bridging that gap is a serious challenge.

An even larger challenge is mobilizing the masses of disheartened and disengaged voters needed to reverse this dangerous trend before next fall's mid-terms. We're up for the task and our commitment for a more perfect union remains steadfast as evidenced in our work this year:

In spite of our now eliminated NEA funds and

the growing trend to devalue arts funding,

we will continue to speak out loudly against the tyranny of bullies on and offstage. We are up for whatever hurdles lie ahead but the financial obstacles are the ones with which we need your increased help with your tax-deductible gift. In this non-election year please consider your donation a vote for free speech through art. Make SFMT your candidate this year and support our watchdog efforts to sound the alarm of the historic dangers of complicity through complacency.