Drinking Liberally minus the drinking:
I firmly believe that more young people should get involved in politics. Unfortunately, Drinking Liberally would seem to discourage aspiring young activists who aren’t 21 from taking part, but you can certainly come and not drink. I do.
But I think Democrats and progressives ought to figure out a strategy for reaching out specifically to young people (individuals of high school or college age) and getting them involved. Maybe that means putting on a regular event like Drinking Liberally, but minus the alcohol, and probably making it less frequent.
For example, a regularly scheduled monthly meeting could be organized at a Seattle area restaurant (not a bar though) where young people could have a bite to eat, discuss political strategy, and enjoy ice water.
One of the great things about Drinking Liberally is certainly the continuity. It goes on every Tuesday night at the Montlake Ale House. If you’re in the mood to talk politics with other activists, you just show up. And you can bring your laptop with you: the Ale House is Wi-Fi equipped so you can surf the blogosphere or just get some work done.
Drinking Liberally is a great idea, but not because it brings together bear, well drinks and progressive politics. Rather, it is an informal, net-based meeting that anyone can come along and join. Like meetups, but more specifically marketed towards liberals/progressives and with no higher motive than to just bring people together.
Of course, when people come together to socialize, they’ll end up talking about and doing more.
Boy, we should have more of those.
You’re right and Andrew’s right on several points. There is a need to get more young people involved in progressive politics. So it could be meeting at a coffee house or it could be a picnic or a potluck at someone’s house. The idea is to have a venue to prmote it through and it could just be added to all the promotion for Drinking Liberally.
But I would also note that not all “older” people may want to socialize through the bar environment either. The idea is to have a variety of events that promote people of like mind feeling comfortable getting together and talking. That’s as old as politics itself, I imagine.
Do I hear regular Coffee Klatch at Mud Bay Coffee? I agree with both Andrew and Emmett, and we do need to engage more of the younger folks in the Democratic party.