To understand our form of government is not hard. Read the Constitution and amendments usually is a pretty easy way to start. To respect and honor our form of government is obviousley not so easy, just look at progressives, the courts and local and state governments and the federal government. They backstab our founders seemingly at will.
The Coffee Party believes the middle is consensus. The Tea Party believes the middle is the Constitution.
The Constitution is not a living document. It is based in principle as the vision for the United States of America's future and the founders deplored the idea of the mob controlling America whether it was the tyranny of the large states stepping on the rights of smaller states, industrial over agriculture or large government crushing the liberty of individuals.
let's start a coffee party . . . smoothie party. red bull party. anything but tea. geez. ooh how about cappuccino party? that would really piss 'em off bec it sounds elitist . . . let's get together and drink cappuccino and have real political dialogue with substance and compassion.
Progress is patriotic, they tell the camera. Wake up. Espresso yourself. Something is brewing, America.
How about a Latte Liberal Party? Yes, progress is patriotic, but not all progress(ivism), only progress that fits within the Constitution.
About Us
We are diverse — ethnically, geographically, politically, in age and in experience.
We are 100% grassroots. No lobbyists here. No pundits. And no hyper-partisan strategists calling the shots in this movement. We are a spontaneous and collective expression of our desire to forge a culture of civic engagement that is solution-oriented, not blame-oriented.
Your web presence shows that you are 100% grassroots, eh? Sharing goals, venues and projects with MoveOn, Organizing for America, unions, MSM and others and your coming out of the gate with professional logos, videos, websites and all of you fellow groups pounding the intertoobs to create the sense of an overnight avalanche of support. You're so hyper-partisan and non spontaneous, it will be interesting to unravel your finances to see who has really been funding you from inception.
We demand a government that responds to the needs of the majority of its citizens as expressed by our votes and by our voices; NOT corporate interests as expressed by misleading advertisements and campaign contributions.
We want a society in which democracy is treated as sacrosanct and ordinary citizens participate out of a sense of civic duty, civic pride, and a desire to contribute to society. The Coffee Party is a call to action. Our Founding Fathers and Mothers gave us an enduring gift — Democracy — and we must use it to meet the challenges that we face as a nation.
Any group is the sum of its parts. The Coffee Party is growing quickly and absorbing a variety of views and opinions. The one thing we all agree on is that Government has to change… and we would like it to change for the better instead of rolling back to the last Century.
Demand all you want as long as those demands are within the Constitution which clearly lays out the reason and the form of our form of government.
Democracy may be sacrosanct somewhere, but not here. You will call it nitpicking, which belies an ignorance of governance, but the United States of America is a Republic which is quite different than the tyranny of Democracy's majority. Again, you can demand all you want concerning the needs of the majority (who decides those needs to be prioritized by the majority?) as witnessed by your votes and voices, but again, Constitution; Republic; Law.
Vienna, Va.: If you look at the recent Pew study on the Millennial Generation, that group is more progressive than the preceding generations. How are the Coffee Party Groups specifically reaching out to that cohort? They are really important.
Annabel Park: Great point, Vienna! The Millennial Generation, frankly, has a lot to teach the rest of us when comes to appreciation of diversity and a sense of collective identity that transcends the usual lines that divide us. We want to appeal to them to not only be involved, but to take on leadership. We are starting chapters on college campuses where students can come together to practice democracy as a community.
I'm sure one of your instantaneous grassroots support groups will help you with this. Maybe the NEA and the Department of Education?
We believe that, when the Millennial Generation steps up for our country's future, it will lead to profound changes in our politics.
Annabel Park: We want to shift the paradigm from thinking of politics as a zero-sum game with two opposing sides. If one side loses, the other side wins. This is not a democracy. This is a misunderstanding of the tenets of democracy.
And you misunderstand the tenets of the Republic of the United States of America.
Democracy is based on the notion of the common good. People should come together to go through a deliberation process to produce collective decisions that benefit the common good.
Here in our Republic that deliberation process is called elections. You'll see the process in action next November.
What would Abraham Lincoln suggest if he were living today? Would he be willing to sit down and have a cup of coffee and discuss our nations issues? I think so (just maybe not with me). After the Civil War, the North had won a significant battle. He did not tell the people to follow the rules of a zero sum game. He did not recommend that we obstruct democracy but that we be "flexible in our efforts."
Lincoln never stated that we should be "flexible in our efforts." If the Civil War was not a zero sum then Lincoln would have compromised and toned down the rhetoric with the Confederacy. The unconditional surrender of the Confederacy was definitely zero sum. One wins. One loses.
The snowballing response made her the de facto coordinator of Coffee Party USA, with goals far loftier than its oopsy-daisy origin: promote civility and inclusiveness in political discourse, engage the government not as an enemy but as the collective will of the people, push leaders to enact the progressive change for which 52.9 percent of the country voted in 2008.
Oopsy-daisy my butt and that 52.9% is evaporating as quickly as they find out who Obama is and that progressive is just another way to spell socialist.
Republic, constitution and law. Form, process and the way things must be done. Fairly damned simple for most people.
