Red Emma's

I've done my best to avoid talking about which political theories I subscribe to, or about my beliefs, in general. This isn't because I'm trying to hide, it's because I want the emphasis on things away from me. In my idealized little mental world, I'm like an Emcee- pulling back the curtain, and saying " be amazed at what these awesome folks are doing" . I know that bits of me get leaked out, and I've made my peace with that. At the same time, I've got another blog for more personal stuff, so again, I'm not hiding, just trying to do the opposite of what most writers do- I want to keep your focus on the cool stuff, not me.
So, I'm putting something on here that's a little more personal today, and it does have to do with politics. Now, other than my more general neurosis, the reason for my preamble is that I don't totally agree with these folks. In order to explain that I have to mention what I do believe. So, I am a Marxist. I do believe in Socialism as both a politics and a philosophy. However, I also have a very strong libertarian, populist streak. This isn't a contradiction if you're versed in 20th century radicalism, but I have to specify that I'm not a Chomsky styled "Libertarian Socialist". I'm a Socialist- most closely, in America, to the DSA, however, I don't vote straight along any party lines, and sometimes support things directly against the DSA. I'm not one of those vegan, queer Anarchists in a black hoodie. But, I fully support your choice to be one. I'm not a fundamentalist christian with a gun collection, wearing Camo and hating the Feds, either, but, again, I'm down with your right to be one.
So, that brings us to Red Emma's. They're not my favorite bookstore in Baltimore, but I do like them. I don't fully embrace their politics, but I do like them. They're not my close friends, but I do like them.
They are looking to expand, and they are looking for donations. Now, while I think that the call for donations shows the limitations of their politics , I'm posting this to support that call for donations because, regardless of how they get there,  I'd like them to achieve their goals, because the end result would be good. I know the inherent problems with any "ends justifies the means" argument, but I'm not saying that anything is justified, just that I want to see the ends.. I still think that a more "traditional" cooperative makes more sense, but I'm willing to be wrong. Therefore I'm presenting all this- the notion being that much like the Emcee I'm trying to be- that I can present, and let the reader decide if it's worthwhile to them.