Thursday, July 28, 2005

A little capitalistic advice for Drinking Liberally

Posted by Craig Westover | 1:18 PM |  

Now let me start off by saying I have a soft spot for Robin, the Power Liberal. I see a little bird with a broken right wing that only needs to be made strong so she can fly straight, instead of flying in circles. Case in point, the Drinking Liberally crisis.

Drinking Liberally is the liberal equivalent of Thursday Night Trivia at Keegan’s, except that it proudly proclaims itself part of a national organization -- apparently not everyone is entrepreneurial as Atomizer when it comes to alcohol; some people apparently require incentives to drink.

I’ve attended a couple of times -- once when Nick Coleman reneged on a promised appearance. I’ve even chipped into the communal pitcher fund (from each according to his ability to pay; for each according to his capacity). The conversation is . . . interesting.

Recently, the cruel world of capitalism evicted the local Minneapolis group from their accustomed meeting place.
As you all know, Drinking Liberally has been meeting at Liquor Lyle's for the last few months, through good time and more often than not, through bad. Last night we lost our backroom to a new Texas Hold'Em promotion, and it appears it may become ongoing.
So what was the liberal response to finding a new place to have a beer with friends? A plan. No, not quite a plan -- a strategy. A strategy that would become a plan -- or a preliminary plan until a final plan that included St. Paul can evolve. Of course, everybody’s input was solicited.
So, now is the time for your voice to be heard. I'm looking for suggestions of better places to hold DL- Minneapolis. We had a few brainstorms last night, and I'm posting a few finalists. We are looking for location (preferably easy access for the most Minnesotans, at least until we can decide how to get St. Paul running as a stand alone), price (no more 17 dollar pitchers, please), room for a band of merry misfits, and parking and bus access.

We may have doubts about the country, but in Drinking Liberally land, we are still a democracy.
It’s a perfect metaphor for liberalism -- a top down organization and centralized planning is required just to have a beer with the gang -- with a price cap on the beer.

A bit of evil free-market capitalistic advice to my liberal friends -- if the company and conversation are worth it, people will show up to just about any location. Some might even car-pool.