Students for a Democratic Society

Here are two examples of folks who are taking "old" politics and making it new again. I like the first (and I participate in it). I'm doubtful about the utility of the second.

• David Alpert of Drinking Liberally has an op-ed on TomPaine about the organization's origins and philosophy.

  I came to Drinking Liberally (and I'm not even a big drinker) looking to connect with people over politics and friendships. Eight months later, I was getting in a van to canvass voters right before the 2004 election, with eight friends—regular Liberal Drinkers—who were strangers to me the year before.

  For the Founding Fathers, politics was a community sport. George Washington regularly stopped in to the local taverns in New York and Philadelphia as he traveled the country during the Revolution and afterward. Samuel Adams and John Hancock hatched the idea for the Boston Tea Party over an ale at the Green Dragon Tavern in Boston. Tom Paine, this site's inspiration, was active in a debating club, the Headstrong Club, at the White Hart Tavern in Lewes, England, before he moved to America, and developed many of his political beliefs there.

  I remember when DL was like five folks in the back of Rudys bar in Hell's Kitchen trying to dream up slogans for a button campaign. Now, on their 4th anniversary, they've got over 200 chapters across the country. Congratulations to all on that achievement, and for reviving the social camaraderie of civic participation.

• I've been meaning to blog about this for a long time, and need to just put it out there. Students across the country are reviving the 60s radical group Students for a Democratic Society.
  
  I have mixed feelings about this.