It's Time to Elevate Let's Address This to the Next Level

Where it goes from here depends on the people that matter most -- you the readers

This Sunday morning I want to take a moment to level with my readers. I didn’t start Let’s Address This because I wanted another media brand.

I started it because too many of the institutions that were supposed to inform the public were collapsing in real time—or worse, remaining complicit as extremism metastasized through silence, access journalism, and false balance. In this moment, I refuse to sit idle, and I know you subscribe because you share that same fire. More than words, here’s how we’re building something better in our fight to protect our democracy. Let’s Address This.

What We’ve Built

In just 21 months, Let’s Address This has earned more than 170,000 subscribers, published over 750 original pieces and reached more than 40 million readers. That didn’t happen because of billionaire donors or corporate backing. It happened because people are actively searching for credible voices and serious scholars who are willing to tell the truth plainly, without hedging, euphemism, or fear.

And you are responding.

Here’s just a snapshot of why you are subscribing.

As a human rights lawyer, I’m trained to recognize when systems fail slowly—and then all at once. That is exactly what we are watching happen to corporate media and our democracy.

Newsrooms stripped by private equity and bought out by billionaires. Editorial decisions shaped by advertisers and political access. Panels that confuse neutrality with cowardice while authoritarian movements organize openly. Outlets that still “both-sides” fascism while real people are criminalized, deported, surveilled, or erased.

This isn’t accidental. It’s structural.

And when media systems fail, democracy doesn’t just weaken—it loses its immune system.

How We Are Fighting Back

What we’ve built so far proves something essential: people are not disengaged—they are underserved. Millions of readers want analysis grounded in law, history, and lived experience, not consultant-approved talking points. They want clarity, not confusion dressed up as balance. We say what is happening, why it is happening, who is responsible, and how to fix it.

But here is the next phase—and it is critical—because it addresses the single biggest complaint we have received to date. The need for more localized coverage.

National coverage alone is no longer enough. The real damage to democracy is increasingly happening at the state level: in legislatures, judicial races, school boards, prosecutors’ offices, and quietly drafted bills that never make cable news. A state law banning abortion, criminalizing “Shariah law,” gutting voting rights, or dehumanizing Trans Americans. Voters are routinely left in the dark about which candidates are genuinely people-funded—and which ones are bankrolled by corporate interests, dark money, AIPAC, and extremist donors.

We intend to change that.

What The Future Needs

In the coming months, we are expanding Let’s Address This to better cover state-level power, policy, and elections—in plain language and without jargon. This requires a larger, more connected base. It requires more scholars, more writers, and more researchers, to meet the need and demand of readers who want to improve and elevate their communities.

And that brings me to the most important part.

To advance with the urgency of now, we must build our base of support. That means that if you can become a paid subscriber, we need you. Your support directly funds the expansion of this work. You can support our expansion at a cup of coffee a month ($6), or at $50 a year, or as a Founding Member at $500.

If you’re reading this for the first time and you can’t afford a paid subscription, that does not make your support less valuable to this mission. Free subscribers matter—immensely. Every free subscription increases our reach, strengthens our platform, and signals that independent voices still have power in an ecosystem dominated by corporate money. Your free support is still an act of resistance and resilience.

Subscribe. Even if it’s free. Especially if it’s your first time. That single step helps determine what comes next.

Authoritarian movements depend on isolation. Corporate media failure thrives on fragmentation. The antidote is collective participation—people choosing to stay informed, connected, and active.

Let’s Address This is not the end product—it’s the starting point. It’s a growing ecosystem to replace the broken system of corporate media, and build a system of trusted and reliable national and local media. It is a coalition of voices and scholars committed to truth, justice, accountability, and democracy—especially where power prefers darkness.

But we only succeed if we build together. Let’s get to work.

Sincerely,

Qasim Rashid, Esq.
Human rights lawyer
Founder, Let’s Address This

Note: If just 5% of our 170,000 subscribers join as paid subscribers, we could deploy our first five states within the next 5 weeks. Thank you for your trust and partnership.