Political debate with a twist.
Laura Mott noticed a pattern.
Whenever she and her friends got together, they ate, drank and discussed politics. They vented about G-Dub over cold beers. They lamented corruption in government between mouthfuls of chips and salsa. And, as the same topics kept coming up in the same social settings, the equation eventually became clear. Beer + Politics = Great Idea.
***image2***"At first it was kind of a joke, but then we started really thinking about it seriously," Mott says. "I called the organization and we decided this would be a really cool thing, especially for Santa Fe."
The organization in question is Drinking Liberally, which takes the Ice Cube axiom "We be clubbin'" to a literal level. The society of sauce-swilling pundits started in 2003 as a loose-knit group of friends in New York gathering for politics and a pint but has since expanded to 113 chapters in 40 states, plus Washington, DC.
Thanks to Mott-some 378 days after the 2004 election had half the country searching for answers at the bottom of the bottle-the Santa Fe chapter will host its first gathering at 6:30 pm, Nov. 15 at Back Road Pizza.
"It seems like a really fun idea," Piper Kapin, co-owner of Back Road, says. "This may or may not be something I'm interested in personally, but either way it seems like a really good opportunity for people to meet other people, build community and talk about whatever it is they want to talk about."
Pick your poison. The Bush administration. Tom DeLay. Deforestation. The CIA leaks. Fran Gallegos. FEMA. Robert Vigil. Iraq. Bill Richardson. Iran. Scooter Libby. Arctic drilling. Dick Cheney's smug mug. Global warming. Traffic on Cerrillos. Ad infinitum. But despite the leftist bent of Drinking Liberally, Mott says all political stripes are welcome, particularly if they're willing to articulate their views.
"There are people who say 'I hate Bush' but they can't tell you why," Mott says. "There are people who say 'I like Bush,' and if they can say 'because of A, B and C,' I can respect that…I really hope this will bring out some genuine intellectual thought regardless of a person's politics."
The Santa Fe chapter is still in its infant stages, but it already has its own website (
) where discussion can spill over into blogs and a web forum. If all goes well, Mott-a 29-year-old Santa Fe accountant-plans to hold informal Drinking Liberally meetings on the third Thursday of every month hereafter.
"Everybody I've talked to has been very excited about it," Mott says. "Certainly all my Democrat friends but even some of my Republican friends. This isn't a campaign. This isn't just a bunch of people getting together to bash Bush. The objective is really just about getting people together to socialize, talk about issues and have fun."
