A while back I wrote this funloving post while in a rare upbeat mood, and last night I spent some time with the Capitol Hill Drinking Liberally gang, and listened to John Hliko, founder of Act For Love and also the infamous DraftWesleyClark.com, and Stempac, the stem cell research advocacy blog. John and I agreed that it’s a simple idea: Democrats need to keep reminding people that we are the party of fun. And good sex, food, booze, comedians, and everything else that makes the burden of life lessened.

It’s a pretty straightforward idea, really, and I got to witness it in force a couple of times last night, finishing off at a DNC/Dean event at some Capitol hill brewpub. People like to laugh, they like to love, they like to be in happy company. John argued that when we get too wonky and detailed, we lose people. Indeed, one of our number last night had a hard time with that point, and unwittingly demonstrated that being long-winded and ultra-serious is the quickest way to turn people off to your cause. No one likes being lectured to by those who simultaneously make the lectured feel guilty for not acting and stupid for not knowing all the fine details of an issue. bonks forehead on desk, remember this, woman!

Anyway, it’s a simple enough idea and we should all keep it in mind. John noted that the Act for Love site is really a back door way of getting people involved in more serious causes. As he pointed out, people think about sex constantly. If you can get people involved because they’re motivated to Get Some, it’s more likely they’ll stay involved. I suppose it’s sad, but it’s probably true that people don’t always work for the Common Good because it’s the right thing to do. More often than not, they do so to impress a girl, look suave, and otherwise rise in the evolutionary chain of the reproductively fecund. Also, people will remember your idea more often when they associate it with something they really like, such as good food or hot wimmin.

I’ve said it before, and I really believe that it’s an underutilized strength of the party, one I think the netroots can and should force the leadership to employ. Unlike Republicans, we don’t need to use our positions of authority to force teenagers to have sex, or hide in closets smoking meth and thinking about women while paying a male escort to blow us. Only a minority actually enjoy this kind of inegalitarian relationship, and a majority like all the things we like: funky music, good food from around the world, fine wine, hot girl on girl action, and the freedom to just lay back and enjoy the world. Being serious is important and worthwhile, but let’s not forget to let our hair down and invite the fearful in from the cold once in a while. We’ve got good cause to do so of late, let’s take advantage of that and bring back Happy America. I honestly believe that a majority wants, craves, and needs that.