Conservative Tech Company of the Week: OurFight
Meet OurFight, a site where you can join forces with like-minded individuals using a platform that empowers conservatives to drive meaningful change
Welcome back to Safe<br>Space’s third edition of Conservative Tech Company of the Week! This week we had the pleasure of sitting down with Elijah Pepin, creator of OurFight. Elijah is a seasoned software engineer and dedicated conservative technologist who is using his skills as an engineer to affect real change across the political spectrum. Not only did Elijah provide a detailed analysis of OurFight, he also shared his thoughts on some of the most pressing issues facing the conservative movement as a whole. Let’s hear what Elijah had to say.
Tell me a little bit about yourself, your background, and how you got into the conservative tech space.
“Sure so I was born in New York, raised in Virginia, I started developing software when I was in about the 10th grade. I became a professional developer about 12 years ago. Then about 6 years ago I started working with this conservative company called “Saber” and they got me into the whole Email gathering / marketing space. So I left there after about 3 years and, both as a business and an ideology, I was brainstorming things like “how can I become independent” “what kind of business can I create” and morally and ideologically I had this passion for conservatism even though I wasn’t in politics. Then I realized I could use my experience in the field I was introduced to at Saber along with my own technological experience to start my own thing.”
“All the [petitioning] options that were out there at the time like change.org and moveon.org were left leaning. So there was a niche for a site like OurFight.”
What is OurFight?
“Simplest description would be, it is a moveon.org or change.org for conservatives. You might ask yourself “what’s the point of that? why can’t you just use change or moveon?” well, there’s the fear of shadow-banning, there’s the fear of being canceled at any point. Even though these services may be free, when propagating them, you are at the mercy of these left leaning companies. Using OurFight, you don’t have to worry about being censored or shadow-banned for your conservative views. We also spend our own money to promote some of these petitions to try to get them out there.”
Why did you start OurFight? What was your motivation behind it?
“It was around 2008 when I really started getting into politics. It was John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, and Obama and it looked like one of those three was definitely going to win and I’m just thinking “man, look how far we’ve fallen as a nation”. So right then and there, there was just a passion in me - a fire that was lit that has never gone out. Then this was solidified in 2020, seeing the way conservatives were being treated, even by those who we thought were our allies…. It seemed like anyone who was claiming there was election fraud was treated like a tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theorist! These were normal, America-loving citizens and they were being treated like ignorant, uneducated people. So part of the inspiration for OurFight is to give more power to the grass-roots and less power to the commercialized, RINO organizations that we think are on our side.
What feature on OurFight have you found to be the most successful?
So, when I was working with Saber [email gathering / petitioning], we would have: first name, last name, email address and zip code. That way when we sent out our emails we could say “Dear Elijah Pepin” instead of “Dear Mr. or Mrs.”, but because we are conservatives, by nature we are maybe a bit cynical. Obviously, by giving all of that personal information out, you have concerns that your identity could be stolen. So about two months ago, I added an option for a simplified form where it’s just your email address. Now, through a CDN (Content Delivery Network) I’m able to retrieve the assumed Latitude and Longitude of the viewer. From there I can take an educated guess on their zip code. So the engagement has increased notably, because it is much less risk for the viewer.
What direction are you going to take in the future? New features, new ideas etc.
“Well we recently added a feature where, after someone signs a petition, they have the option to promote the petition. The plan is, for every dollar contributed, the petition will be promoted in the signer’s state for 24 hours. Signers can also leave a comment. There seems to be a feeling among my base that their voices are not being heard. They’re treated as outdated, a fading demographic and it seems like there is a really good portion of them that just want to be able to express their concerns. This feature helps them.”
“Another feature that just went live minutes ago is essentially a system where the owner of the petition is only charged if they acquire a signer outside the existing list already on OurFight. So it’s meter based. There is no money down, OurFight could continue to promote your petitions and the petition creator will only be charged $1.50 for an email that is new to the entire OurFight list. The current list is around 68,000 emails. If any of those emails sign your petition, you're not charged. You’re only charged if the email is new to the entire OurFight list.”
Lastly, what do you think is needed within the conservative tech industry?
“Well we have Daily Wire, we have Louder with Crowder. We need more engagement from grass roots. We need conservative voices to embrace media more. I think what happened over time is, conservatives saw computers and technology as “the devil’s box” and we avoided it whereas liberals embraced it. As a result, they dominate technology and entertainment. All major platforms are dominated by left leaning content. So, we have to empower more conservatives to embrace technology. I say this as a Christian, technology itself, is not evil, it’s how it’s used that’s evil. So we need to drown out the opposition!”
“Also - education! Liberals get an 18 year head start. And we have to spend the next 20-30 years undoing the indoctrination of the liberals. Fortunately there seems to be a growing homeschooling movement, but ripping education out of the hands of fascists is going to be crucial!”
Elijah, your unwavering passion and insightful perspectives have had a profound impact on us. Your tireless efforts to bring about positive change are truly inspiring and will continue to shape the landscape of the cultural debate for years to come. Thank you for sharing your brilliance with us and for being a catalyst for progress. If you are interested in checking out OurFight, feel free to click here.