Drinking Liberally

• The Kent County GOP has gotten hip to Drinking Liberally and is using a similar model to engage local youth.
• Here's a new iPhone app that will let you track the voting records of elected officials.
• danah boyd answers all the questions you had about teens and social media use.
• Campus Progress has video from their latest panel on Millennial Politics.
• Rock the Vote looks at how credit cards are keeping young people down.
• Roll Call discusses how the passage of Civil Rights was the beginning of the end for the GOP.
• Peter Levine critiques the White House Office of Public Engagement.
• Do Young Folks Need Celebrities To Tell Them How To Vote?

As Michael noted yesterday, it can be frustrating just how much of our national discourse still, even after the enormous demonstrable progress in recent years, operates under the constraints of the myth of widespread civic disengagement and apathy among young voters. Like many readers of this site, I get tired hearing these kinds of myths repeated, along with the kind of concern they engender, in the whispered, just-between-you-and-me fears of older relatives.

Which makes me all the more glad to have a visceral sign of young voter interest to point to while assuaging said relatives, and that's the debate watch parties we've seen for the first Presidential debate through Drinking Liberally, which included young people (and young-at-heart people) packing bars, auditoriums and coffeeshops throughout the country, all just to watch that supposedly not-so-cool televised debate with a bunch of their peers. In New York City, no less an authority than Comedy Central described it as "insanely crowded" when we filled DCTV with 200 engaged, overwhelmingly young voters; in Salt Lake City, they teamed up with Young Democrats of Utah to fill the local tavern to the brim; and in Denver, over 150 progressive Coloradoans found their way to the Skylark Lounge. It was a great night.

Though not everyone thought it would be so - when the first Presidential debate was announced as being on a Friday night, some were skeptical. As NPR's Day To Day made clear, Friday night is widely seen as

a time often reserved for dates, sporting events, or the beginning of a weekend getaway.

Which brings up the question - why not make watching the Presidential debates feel like a night on the town?

As DL's Executive Director (and my colleague) Justin Krebs noted,

"Watching political events has become sort of like watching sporting events in New York and around the country...State of the Union nights have become regularly accompanied by drinking games, and the debates are no different."

If we can get people across the country to gather together to watch a football game together, we can get young people to gather together to celebrate retaking their country together. As we prepare for tonight's Biden-Palin debate, be it by playing Palin Bingo or agonizing over debate prep, we can all drink to that.

What's more fun than watching an inspirational speaker deliver soaring oratory as he historically accepts his party's nomination?

Doing so with drink in hand, of course.

So sip if he says "hope" -- really when he says it -- and enjoy the other rules below to share a celebratory toast as you drink liberally tonight.

Take a Sip when
He Says:
- hope
- change
- community organizer
- Bush
- Hillary Clinton
or when:
- he says how much he loves America
- he tells a joke that actually makes you laugh
- he implicitly/explicitly compares himself to MLK
- compliments Michelle for being accomplished

New York City has outlawed dancing-without-a-license since 1926. Seriously. Bars and restaurants require cabaret licenses -- originally a measure to crack-down on interracial couples -- if people want to shake a leg. And, in some cases, proprietors have been fined for failure to stop dancers.

All that may soon change, as Mayor Bloomberg is said to be planning a repeal of these arcane laws.

As ridiculous as it was that these laws have existed -- putting NYC in the lonely anti-dance camp only otherwise occupied by religious extremists -- it's more ridiculous that it took so long to tackle them. Despite efforts from advocates like Scott Jeffrey of Legalize, there has never been a really strong, public, dynamic, effective movement to make this change...despite being in a strong, dynamic entertainment-fueled city of conscious, creative-class warriors.

Last year, on the eve of the 4th of July holiday, George Bush pardoned Scooter Libby. I remember being infuriated by it, finding some solace in Keith Olberman's special comment calling upon Bush and Cheney to resign, and I remember thinking, "Surely there is some precedent in American history that has offered wisdom for exactly this type of scenario."

Then I remembered to read The Declaration of Independence.

What did this document say to indict the monarch named George?

"He has obstructed the Administration of Justice"...

"He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance"...

"He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power"...

As Thomas Jefferson penned, "for depriving us in many cases,
of the benefit of Trial by Jury," the ruler had earned himself a Revolution...and Jefferson reminded me that the Declaration of Independence is absolutely an annual must-read.

I've always thought there should be some other celebration associated with the 4th, beyond barbecues, beaches and fireworks (all of which I love).

Our friends at the Bus Project, as was blogged about on this site, figured out the progressive festivities for Halloween. So who has figured out the new way to mark Independence Day?

Until we sort it out, I'll just settle for attending Drinking Liberally tonight...and reading this document out loud -- to anyone who will listen -- tomorrow.

Greetings, Future Majority -- thanks, Mike, for inviting a few of us to post this week...and for creating such an important online space.

Since I'll be appearing a couple times this week, I wanted to start with an introduction -- my name is Justin Krebs, and I'm executive director of Living Liberally, a national network that creates social communities around progressive politics.

What is a liberal? We get asked that a lot -- and my somewhat dodge of an answer is that people know when they are one...around the country, the attendees of Drinking Liberally choose to identify as liberals -- I don't need to tell them what they are -- they can tell me what liberal is.

And our liberal libation-lifters around the country do. Dan Henry, from our Idaho Falls, has been working to create legal opportunities for youth to protest the war following an incident when several teens were arrested for defacing street signs in an anti-war action. In Denver, liberals took in a night of laughter, attending comedy shows together to promote their progressive identity. Our Springfield, Illinois, chapters believes that part of being liberal is playing host to special guests: candidates, advocates and psychedelic cowboy bands.

How are you liberal? If it's good, put it in the comments...maybe one of our chapters will follow your lead -- or maybe we'll highlight it over at our newly-relaunched Living Liberally blog, where we post reviews alongside rants, and amusements alongside analysis...because that's part of being liberal too.

In my travel yesterday, I forgot that I was missing the 5th anniversary of Drinking Liberally at Rudy's. It's pretty crazy that it's been 5 years (and now in all 50 states). I can remember when it was just a few of us sitting around trying to think up slogans to put on buttons.

Here's what a few political rock stars had to say about it:

• First, I've been remiss in reporting that Mike Lux at Open Left is calling on all netroots progressives to work their asses off to register high-school seniors before they graduate. He's even got some ideas on how it might work. - Open Left
• Hillary Rosen, former head of the RIAA (and proponent of taking students, seniors, and assorted toddlers to court over filesharing) is now running the political operation at Huffington Post. WTF? - Boing Boing
• The Democrats are proposing that we pay soldiers who are stop-lossed into service (aka back door draft). Sounds good to me. - Daily Kos
• Ben Adler gives us a brief history of Drinking Liberally on the week in which the organization celebrates its 5 year anniversary. Congrats to Justin and Matt for all their accomplishments. - The Politico
• Georgia10 takes a stab at outlining what Ted Kennedy means to the Millennial Generation. - Daily Kos
• What can we expect from Generation "Z" ? - Profy.com
• Google: Viacom's YouTube lawsuit threatens the net. - Mashable!
• And finally, Joe gives us a run-down on the state of the race and why it's OK that the Clinton campaign keeps chugging along. And congrats to Joe on scoring the AlterNet gig. I believe this means that all 3 people who served as Web/Communications Director at MFA are now in the employ of AlterNet.

In case you missed it, last night our pals at Drinking Liberally were on The Daily Show in a segment with John Oliver about the YouTube/CNN debates. Watch the crew live up to their motto - saving democracy one pint at a time.

Drinking Liberally gets mentioned a lot on this site, as an important example of the youth revolution/dotOrg Boom of 2003/2004, as well as the return of social capital and grassroots energy to progressive politics. For those of you who have never been to a Drinking Liberally (trust me, there's one near you), check out this video. It's a good rundown of what the whole scene is about.