In praise of romance novels

Interesting post at DailyKos, somehow appropos for Mother's Day: why progressives should pay attention to romance novels. I can't begin to explain it, but this grabbed my attention:

romance itself is a fundamentally progressive activity.

So Valentine's Day is for liberals! Who knew? And the writer doesn't even mention the cliche of hopeless romantics and starry-eyed idealists!

I know next to nothing about romance novels, but I'm open to the idea that there's more there than what I suspect. I'm also open to the idea that lots of liberal/progressive men don't want to have anything to do with romance novels because they are already worried about seeming too effeminate or less macho than their conservative counterparts.