One of our favorite magazines is trying to expand and needs your help. Plus, an update on merch and the Gravel Institute.


** An update from us at Gravel HQ
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Hello,

We hope everyone has been well since the end of the Gravel 2020 end. It was an extremely fun campaign to run, and to think that this ragtag effort for an 89-year-old with positions solidly outside the political mainstream got several times the donations of a senator, several congresspeople, governors, and the mayor of the most populous city in the country—that it even qualified for the debates!—continues to astound. (And anytime tells you we “didn’t have enough support in the polls,” tell them that we reached the threshold in 28 polls. It’s just a question of which the DNC recognized.)

A quick update: yes, merchandise has been taking a very long time. Everything has now been produced and will be shipping shortly. We are managing pins ourselves; every pin is currently in an apartment in New York City, and as soon as the stamps we order have arrived they’ll be ready to go. All other merchandise is getting handled by a firm that will start the last stage of fulfillment shortly. Please email me if your item doesn't arrive. We are sorry about the wait—a bit longer than we expected.

Henry and I have been on vacation; we’ve been crafting our plans for what form the Gravel Institute will take. We have a working plan we’ll be developing and releasing upon completion. We think you’ll be very happy with what we came up with—we think we’ve found a very useful space in the broader ecosystem of leftism that will benefit the causes Sen. Gravel is passionate about. Our goal, really, is to use the Institute to assist in the quiet, oft-unsung work of building progressive infrastructure—the very institutions that have allowed the right to seize control of this country. (We're actually going to be meeting with the senator later this month to finalize our plans.)

The main reason for this email, though, is to make an entreaty on behalf of one of our favorite publications, Current Affairs. I could not be prouder of my subscription. We are sure many of you are loyal readers; it was a witty, charming, acerbic publication that has made a splash in only a few years of existence, and easily among the best left outlets anywhere. It is doing excellently, and is now planning an expansion—a better website, a wider reach, and more professional work.

Left-leaning magazines (like most left institutions!) face a conundrum—they want to maximize readership in order to effectively spread the principles and ideas of leftism, but they also need resources for maintenance and expansion (so as to more effectively do the former). Right-wing outfits can rely on the generosity (or, rather, investment) of a few wealthy individuals; the same isn’t true of those at Current Affairs. Thus the free-rider dilemma of readers absorbing content without paying is a particularly acute one. (For those interested in this topic, I recommend one of my favorite books, Richard Tuck’s Free Riding.)

Thus we urge you to avoid the often morally parlous position of the free rider (or, as Tuck would have it, the quasi-free rider) and contribute to Current Affairs’ expansion. It has raised more than $25,000 in just two days; if you can pitch in just $20, you’ll get a back issue of the magazine. (Che affare!)

HELP CURRENT AFFAIRS HERE ([link removed])

Faithfully yours,

David Oks

Former campaign manager, Gravel 2020

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