Social media superuser and Star Trek alum George Takei has departed from his usually humorous banter to give fans on Facebook and Twitter an uncharacteristically serious message about politics and democracy.
While George Takei has addressed political and social issues on his page before, today he is asking fans to support a Kickstarter created to get money out of politics.
In a message posted this morning, Takei spoke to fans about the issue of political corruption, beginning:
“I support taking back our democracy from the hands of only the super wealthy. Together, friends, we are stronger than they. This is the first and perhaps only true effort I have seen that stands a chance of working. Just over 17 hours left on this Independence weekend to raise the remaining amount to keep this campaign going.”
Takei continued:
“Whatever your politics, you don’t want your politicians bought and paid for. Will you help make a difference for your country and our children and grandchildren? Even $3 each from just a fraction of my fans could tip the balance. This matters, friends. Let’s give our democracy a chance to be free again. — Uncle George”
[fb link=”https://www.facebook.com/georgehtakei/posts/993069360722517?][/fb]
On Twitter, George also spread the message about donating $3 to the Mayday PAC… which has already garnered more than $50,000 in donations in less than half an hour.
Battlestations! If you follow me, I ask you RT this. Donate $3 to take back our democracy from the super wealthy: https://t.co/SvynZd1DCX
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) July 4, 2014
Already, Takei’s July 4 tweet has received more than 400 retweets.
The Mayday PAC Kickstarter explains that donating money to eliminate money in politics indeed seems counterintuitive, and adds:
“We are a crowdfunded Super PAC to end all Super PACs… Ironic? Yes. Embrace the irony… We’re kickstarting a Super PAC big enough to make it possible to win a Congress committed to fundamental reform by 2016. We set fundraising goals and then crowdfund those goals.”
Takei wasn’t the only social media slash Star Trek celeb to support Mayday PAC openly — Wil Wheaton commented on the above YouTube clip:
“I really want Mayday PAC to be successful, so my country moves away from being an Oligarchy and back towards a Representative Republic.?”
When commenters objected to Takei’s position and countered that the star himself was wealthy, he replied:
“All the more reason I have an obligation to speak our against the use of money to corrupt our process.”
As of now, the Mayday PAC page is hovering at just over 33,000 contributions, and $3.7 million dollars.
With George Takei’s signal boost, the $5 million goal could be met by the end of today — if you’d like to donate, the Kickstarter is located here .
