SNAP featured in The Nation

The November 6 issue of The Nation features a very substantial (> 1,000 words) piece on SNAP. The article, "SNAP!" by Sam Graham-Felsen, is available online here (but you have to be a Nation subscriber to read the whole thing).

Some highlights:

SNAP has emerged as one of the more innovative and influential progressive organizations on American campuses. Beyond the assistance it is providing in the November elections, SNAP is playing an important role in shaping the future of the progressive movement. With its grassroots approach to electoral politics, SNAP is not only bridging the often-stark ideological divide between radical activists and pragmatic College Democrats on campus; it is providing a model for how to bring genuine political power to students.
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SNAP's commitment, intellectual seriousness and willingness to forgo immediate gratification have drawn praise from many of the political strategists and candidates they've worked with. Sherrod Brown says he marveled at their "energy and passion," calling their work "vital to sustaining and strengthening the grassroots progressive movement."
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After the elections SNAP will continue to fundraise and expand to more schools across the country. Malsin hopes it will eventually grow into "something like a national youth caucus--a unified progressive youth voice with power." A year ago SNAP couldn't get anyone to return phone calls; today campaigns across the country are begging the group for endorsements. "They want us," says Malsin. "We set out to build power, and now we've got it." SNAP believes that by 2008, its endorsement of a presidential candidate will be "a significant thing in politics."

It's nice to see so many people's hard work paying off. To keep the SNAP momentum going, please consider making a contribution.

New Haven Fundraiser a Success

We had another tremendously successful fundraiser this past Monday in New Haven. Ned Lamont (D-CT), SNAP-endorsed candidate for Senate, and Marissa Levendis, SNAP Executive Director, spoke with passion and eloquence of the stakes in the coming Congressional elections--from healthcare, to Iraq, to the proliferation of lobbyists in Washington.

Lamont told the grassroots story of his campaign, starting with an informal gathering of activists at New Haven's own Naples pizza. As he pointed out at the event, if there was an open question regarding the efficacy or realism of grassroots activism, the Lamont campaign has gone a long way towards putting it to rest.

To go the rest of the way, SNAP intends to work with Lamont and others to field the organizers that always make or break close elections. Over the next month, we will continue to send hundreds of students to knock on doors around the state, advocating for progressive change and ensuring that nobody is misled into believing his or her vote doesn't count. Transportation costs money, though -- so if you recognize the vitality of this cause, please consider making a contribution. We're entering the homestretch now -- with a final sprint, new Congressional majorities in 2006 are right around the corner.

So if you made it out to the New Haven event, thanks for your support! And either way, we hope to see you next time.

A Psychologist's Take on the Conservative Appeal

Roy Eidelson, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania and the father of two SNAP members, has recently composed an online video explicating the ways in which conservatives have so successfully exploited Americans' psychology of late.

In particular, he argues that conservatives have done a better job than progressives at appealing to five core concerns: vulnerability, injustice, distrust, superiority, and helplessness. Naturally, this bears directly on what progressives must do differently if we hope to retake Congress in Novemeber.

The video, entitled Dangerous Ideas, is well worth considering, and it's available here.