The "Coffee Party" - Next Big Thing?

QueEx · Mar 13, 2010

<center>
Is the "Coffee Party" the Next Big Thing?</center>

Looking for change, but not quite ready for a revolution? Disappointed in President Obama and Congress, but not ready to turn your back on Washington? Prefer a double, non-foam latte over a cup of Earl Grey? The Coffee Party might be for you.

Months after the Tea Party erupted onto the national scene at health care town halls, an alternative, more pro-government group of citizens is emerging to say they're angry, too -- they just want less yelling and more talking.

Just as the Tea Party organized to remind the Republican Party what its conservative base stands for, the Coffee Party movement is organizing to represent citizens who believe in government solutions for national problems but aren't necessarily enthralled with Democratic leadership. After gaining steam online over the past few months, the Coffee Party is launching its first national event this Saturday: National Coffee Party Day.

What is the Coffee Party, and How Did it Start?

The Coffee Party is a loosely organized movement that has yet to adopt a platform -- but it has a message that its members feel is resonating across the country.

It started with a Facebook note from Annabel Park, a documentary filmmaker from the Washington area, who felt like venting about the Tea Party. She was inundated with feedback from people who agreed that the Tea Party did not represent the America they knew. The sentiment snowballed into a Web site that attracted 170,000 visitors in its first week and Facebook page that as of Friday morning, had more than 110,000 fans -- just beating out the number fans of the Tea Party Patriots page.

Park explains the movement in an introductory video on the Web site: "We object to obstructionism and extreme political tactics that are, I think, are fear based, not reality based and in many ways just deliberate misinformation," she says. "So we're organizing. We want people to understand that we're voters... We need everyone engaged in the political process. That is the only way our government can function, as an expression of our collective will."

The Coffee Party is about open discussion and deliberation for the purpose of solving common problems. The group welcomes everyone and embraces diversity -- ethnic, geographical and even political diversity. There's one caveat Park gives in her opening statement: "If you don't believe the government has any role, than yeah, you should join the Tea Party."

What's Going on Saturday?

This Saturday, local Coffee Party organizers will hold more than 350 meetings, in nearly every state, for the Coffee Party National Kick Off. National organizers are encouraging local leaders to convene groups of no more than eight people at a local coffee shop to discuss the issues that matter to them.

"We just wanted to find a way to make it fun and bring back that feeling of civic pride that pretty much all Americans had in 2008," Eric Byler, one of the leaders of the national Coffee Party, told Hotsheet. "What I saw was people who were really, really proud to get a chance to vote for John McCain -- after eight years, to vote for a war hero -- and people proud to vote for the first 21st-century, multi-ethnic, citizen of the world candidate. I felt so good about our democracy in 2008... we're just trying to bring people back in."

The groups on Saturday will be encouraged to come to a consensus about what issues matter to them the most. Each group will take a picture at the coffee shop with a sign that reads "coffee and..." with the issue of their choice. National Coffee Party organizers will collect the pictures on their Flikr account to create an "issues mosaic."

Shouldn't Voters Seeking Government Solutions
be Happy with Washington Right Now?

The issues likely to come up at Saturday's meetings could very well arise at a Tea Party meeting.

"We want jobs with decent pay for all Americans," the Coffee Party declares on its Facebook page. "We want affordable health care and education. We want our government to cut wasteful spending and practice fiscal discipline. We want regulation of Wall Street to protect consumers and promotion of financial literacy."

The coffee partiers share a lot of the same grievances as tea partiers -- even though they are much more likely to have voted for President Obama.

But the recession hit everyone, explains Frances Lappe, a best-selling author and follower of the Coffee Party movement. Liberals and conservatives alike are hurt by a government that caters more to special interests than its citizens, she said, especially in a time of economic hardship.

Lappe is releasing a second edition of her book "Getting a Grip," which explores the process of creating a "living democracy." The aftermath of the 2008 election compelled Lappe to update her book, which was written during the Bush era.

"I, too, was in some way lulled into the idea that a change at the very top could bring about the kind of systemic, cultural change I believe is very necessary," Lappe told Hotsheet. "Clearly, changing the president is not going to do it. In a way, the disappointment that many have felt is the greatest gift Obama has given us -- to disabuse us of the notion there is a quick fix."

Nothing will change, Lappe says, until power is no longer concentrated in the hands of the few and the wealthy.

Is There Common Ground Between
the Tea Party and the Coffee Party?

And that is a goal for which both coffee partiers and tea partiers can strive for, the Coffee Party says -- putting power back in the hands of the people, whether that means wresting it from government or private special interests.

"You work for us, not for corporations," the Coffee Party says in its Message to Congress. "We hired you and we get to fire you. We pay you and give you great health insurance. Now get to work serving the interests of the American people, or get out."

The message appeals for citizens to "discard the labels that obfuscate reality like Democrat, Republican, conservative and liberal... Democracy is not a zero sum game."

Lappe contends that the Coffee Party may even be able to convince tea partiers that government can have a positive role in society. Government size shouldn't count for much, she says, but rather, people should worry about to whom the government is accountable and how it functions.

"Without an accountable government we end up with the big government clean-ups like the Superfund," Lappe said, referring to the federal law designed to clean up abandoned hazardous waste sites. "A government that is accountable is a reasonable size... If you want [government] small, is that before or after we solve the Toyota recall? In a complex society we need a government that is looking out for our interests in a transparent way."

What Happens After National Coffee Party Day?

The Coffee Party is eager to start the debate, but its future remains unclear. After small groups of local coffee partiers meet Saturday to choose the issues that matter to them, the national group expects to come to a consensus on at least some of the issues and propose specific solutions.

Another, hopefully larger, meet up session is scheduled for March 27, according to Byler. During the upcoming congressional recess, the movement plans to hold "Coffee with Congress" sessions where they will invite their representatives to sit down for a cup of coffee with them. The movement has even started "campus coffee" branches at universities across the country and hopes to have a day in April where every college campus will have a "coffee date."

For its second Coffee Party day on March 27, the group is asking people to take its Coffee Party sphere survey, which asks 60 questions about a person's beliefs on a range of issues. The survey creates a visual representation of one's beliefs and political priorities, which the Coffee Party is using to as a consensus-building tool.

"So far only a few thousand people have taken it, but it seems there's a lot more agreement than you would expect watching the steel cage death match that is political television," Byler said. "It's sort of liberating to say, this is how I feel, and I'm not going to be afraid to speak out because there are people organizing around some negative emotions."

Watch today's episode of "Washington Unplugged"
to hear about the Coffee Party, health care reform
and the Congressional Hockey Challenge:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20000354-503544.html

QueEx · Mar 13, 2010

QueEx · Apr 11, 2010

Good Idea; little chance of catching on?

QueEx · Jun 12, 2010

<center>
Coffee Party Announces
National Summit on Corporate Personhood</center>

Dear Coffee Partiers,

June 6, 2010

We are excited to announce the launch of a National Coffee Summit on Corporate Personhood and Money in Politics.

<div class="im">
Between June 12th and the 20th, we are asking you to organize or participate in a Coffee Party meeting in your neighborhood coffeeshop to discuss these issues with your community. You can <a href="http://coffeepartyusa.com/content/coffee-party-summit-democracy-money" target="_blank">find your guidelines for organizing a summit here.</a>
Because <a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=55l0zO4BThct2uZ%2BOrodb0nI205e2y2X" target="_blank">Money in Politics</a> is such an important issue for the Coffee Party, we are asking you to be part of a national dialogue and decision-making.

After the Summit, there will be an online vote June 21-22 to decide whether or not we want to support any current legislative efforts to address the challenges of Campaign Finance Reform and Corporate Personhood.
This summit is a part of our ongoing <a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=byBSdnArBLKxdiikd3cJr7H4xKQA8w63" target="_blank">Coffee with Main Street</a> campaign seeking to restore democracy in America so that those of us on Main Street have a greater voice in our government.

In January 2010, in the Citizens United vs the Federal Election Commission case, the Supreme Court decided 5-4 to lift restrictions on corporate spending to influence elections. Some see the Citizens United decision as an historic win for the First Amendment; others see this as a grave threat to the democratic process because money may now have an even a greater role in the electoral process.

The Supreme Court based its decision on the premise that the free speech rights afforded to natural persons also applies to corporations, so they must not be subject to legislation passed in recent decades that restricts corporate political spending.

This summit is taking place at a time when Congress is considering three pieces of legislation that address the concerns about money in politics in general and the Citizens United decision in particular:
<ul>
<li> The Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act</li>

<li>The Fair Elections Now Act (FENA)</li>
<li>The Shareholders Protection Act </li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="im">Go to the guidelines for more information on these bills. 
 </div>

Let's see if the Coffee Party approach of civility, being fact- and solution-oriented, and leaving party affiliations at the door can help us get to a place where we can make a good decision as to whether or not we will stand behind any of these efforts. You can <a href="http://coffeepartyusa.com/content/coffee-party-summit-democracy-money" target="_blank">find guidelines for organizing a summit here.</a>

So, let's roll up our sleeves, put our heads together and get to work on meeting our nation's challenges. 
 

<div class="im">--Annabel, Stewart, Andy, Judy, Anand, Diane, Pam and the Coffee Party Team 

 </div>

http://coffeepartyusa.com/content/national-summit-corporate-personhood-0

QueEx · Jun 26, 2010

QueEx said:
<center>

Is the "Coffee Party"] the Next Big Thing?</center>

I hear so little about this group; it must be:

QueEx · Mar 27, 2011

QueEx said:


Good Idea; little chance of catching on?

Schism brews in Coffee Party

po l i t i c o
by ben smith
march 27, 2010

The Coffee Party, which launched last year to mild public curiosity in reaction
to the Tea Party wave, has receded from public view -- in part because of a
schism between its centrist leadership and some left-leaning grassroots.

The movement, co-founded by filmmaker named Annabel Park, was initially
seen as a progressive alternative to the Tea Party.

As Newsweek reported of an early meeting, members "were angry. They
hated the Tea Party, and the Republican Party. They wanted to get even."

Park, however, says she intended the group to be centrist and non-partisan.
She at one point weighed legal action to prevent the left-leaning faction
from using their copyrighted logo after Darrell Bouldin, a Tennessee-based
activist, started an offshoot called "Coffee Party Progressives."

Park wrote him last April, according to an email he forwarded POLITICO:
"I'm really unhappy with what I'm seeing on your fan page. We
really need to talk about this. Why don't you join other progressive
organizations to achieve your goals. We are trying to take people
beyond partisan politics to solutions which are not born with partisan
labels.

"I feel the name Coffee Party attracted so many people because they
assumed it was a reaction to the Tea Party and a progressive counter.
I get comments, emails, and etc. On this point all the time. I think this
is how the Coffee Party got the numbers but why now so many are
inactive," Bouldin wrote in an exchange with one of the Coffee Party
state coordinators explaining why he wanted to remain active with
the group a few moths later.

"The Tea Party's strength is in multiple organizations and groups around
similar principles thugh they are astroturf and have radical elements on
the bottom," Bouldin argued. "So a truly grassroots movement with
multiple groups & organizations is even more possible for us. Coffee
Party USA should not supress that."

"From the beginning of the movement I made it clear that the Coffee
Party is a nonpartisan movement," Park told POLITICO. "I never quite
understood why they wanted to continue using the Coffee Party
name."

Park also said that the only legal action the organization considered was
making sure that Coffee Party Progressives were not using the Coffee
Party's trademarked logo -- which they weren't, and that she was not
seeking to enforce the trademark (which they own) to the Coffee Party
name.

UPDATE: Coffee Party's Eric Byler responds on the Coffee Party blog

Although the article quotes an email that Annabel Park wrote a year ago,
and although neither she, nor I, nor anyone in Coffee Party USA has any
bone to pick with Coffee Party Progressives today, the article does describe
a larger truth, and the quote from Annabel's April 2010 email is still relevant
today (even though we haven't visited their Facebook fan page in months).

Truly, we have only best wishes and highest hopes for concerned citizens
who want to engage in the deliberative process while fully embracing the
partisan framework that dominates political discourse. We certainly do value
and appreciate an energetic, populist left as exemplified by Coffee Party
Progressives and many more established organizations. Such efforts and such
movements are crucial to balance the highly organized and incredibly well-
funded corporate right. The last thing we want to do is discourage the left
from participating, and, in this case, if sharing our name helps them to recruit
new members and inspire their current members, more power to them.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0311/Schism_brews_in_Coffee_Party.html#

actinanass · Mar 27, 2011

left grassroots is only effective when there's a republican president.

This is doomed before it even starts...

QueEx · Mar 27, 2011

The Coffee Party and its discontents

p o l i t i c o
by ben smith
march 27, 2010

We reported on Thursday of a schism between the progressive wing of the Coffee
Party and its leadership. Launched with high hopes last year and seen by some as
a progressive answer to Tea Party, the party has instead been an example of the
failure to counter the power and energy of the tea party movement -- and its own
board members are portraying it as an organizational disaster.

The Interim Board Dissolves

This week, the organization also announced the dissolution of the interim board
this week, and three board members lashed out against the two cofounders in
response.

"We are writing to you because it is our belief that much can be learned from the
experience of the Interim Board, and the dynamics on the Board which we believe
seriously impeded our process. We would like to identify some issues which, from
our point of view, have become problems within the Coffee Party, and which, if not
corrected, will hinder its success," wrote ousted board members Bahiya Cabral-
Johnson, Teri Torres-Hart and Sabina Virgo in an open letter.

Painting a general picture of organizational chaos, they pointed to a lack of civility
in the organization, a lack of democracy and a lack of consultation.

"By the time the volunteer Interim Board was dissolved the group had dwindled from
seven to five after two members withdrew to pursue other activities. At that time,
the Coffee Party USA Board of Directors chose to re-delegate their authority to a
larger team of active Coffee Party volunteers who are now charged with managing
the transition to a permanent board," said a member of the Coffee Party leadership
about the changes.

UPDATE: Full letter after the jump, as well as a response written by the Coffee
Party's Eric Byler:

"The fact is that, for all the qualifications and best intentions of the individual
members of the Interim Board, the board was not, as a unit, capable of effectively
guiding us through the vital process of forming a permanent Board and creating an
infrastructure," Byler writes.

From the Interim Board of the Coffee Party:

To the National Team, CP Activists, participants in Shared Purpose, and all other
interested Coffee Party People.

We are united in our hope that the Coffee Party grows, fulfills its potential, and
becomes a powerful force for Democracy and Civility in our country. The nation
we live in faces many challenges – this is a time filled with both crisis and oppor-
tunities - and we wish the very best for the Coffee Party, as well as for all other
movements and organizations working to heal our political process, and to bring
justice to our system of governance. We understand that an email was sent out
last night to the National Team, and perhaps to others, dissolving the Interim
Board. No one on the Interim Board received a copy of that email. As we write
this letter, none of us knows exactly what the email said. We do understand that
the email said “Do Not Forward”. It is hard to believe that our dissolution is
supposed to be kept a secret.

We are writing to you because it is our belief that much can be learned from the
experience of the Interim Board, and the dynamics on the Board which we believe
seriously impeded our process. We would like to identify some issues which, from
our point of view, have become problems within the Coffee Party, and which, if
not corrected, will hinder its success.

In that spirit, we have observed the following problems in the process of the
Coffee Party:

1) There is a lack of actual democracy within the organization. In a democratic
organization, one person does not have the power to dissolve Boards, Interim
or not. In a democratic organization, all votes (and all people) count equally.
This is not the case within the CPM. We have had multiple experiences of having
completed a task that we were asked to do, and then having all our work
undone, because the founder of the Coffee Party did not approve of the
outcome. It is our understanding that this experience is not limited to members
of the Interim Board.

2) There is a lack of actual civility toward the Interim Board, as well as toward
the Managing Director, David Overcash. We have been sent emails from our
founder calling us timid bureaucrats, sexist jerks, out of touch with the people,
fearful, intimidated, unable to understand the historic importance of the moment…
etc.…

3) There are no clear lines of authority in the Coffee Party. In a democratic
organization, decisions made by the majority cannot simply be overridden or
delayed, or undercut by one person.

4) There is a proliferation of groups and people that are empowered to do the
same work, without coordination, or even knowledge of each other. If the results
from one group empowered to complete a task are not acceptable to Annabel,
their work is discarded, and another group or person is given the responsibility,
ad infinitum….

5) Projects are authorized and positions offered and filled with no knowledge
of the Interim Board.This creates a situation where the Board is/may be respon-
sible for assisting actions or funding projects that were never even discussed
by/or put on the agenda of the Interim Board. This is fair neither to the Board
nor the projects.

6) The result of this pattern of organizational chaos has been to limit the
effectiveness of our organization, as well as having led to the burn-out and
departure of numerous earnest and hard- working individuals, many of whose
names and contributions are not even known to those who joined us later. The
lack of organizational coherence has limited our ability to work collectively, and
taken much of the joy and camaraderie out of the work.

We chose to write this letter, as opposed to taking the safer path of saying
nothing, because we value this organization - we value the people from all over
the country who have been drawn to it - we value the vision, the passion, and
the commitment of the founder of the Coffee party – and we value the work
that we have done as an Interim Board.

Annabel has always said that ‘we are an experiment’. We agree. And experi-
ments are exciting, but they take time, and sometimes they take wrong turns.
But if they stay true to their vision, and if they recognize that honest criticism is
a constructive force for change and learning and growth, then ‘experiments’ have
all they need to succeed.

We sincerely hope you receive this letter in the spirit of caring in which it was
written.

We wish you all the very best!

Bahiya Cabral-Johnson, Member, Interim Board

Teri Torres-Hart, Member, Interim Board

Sabina Virgo, Chair, Interim Board,

Coffee Party response

Dear Coffee Party members,

Annabel and I had expected to announce this after more planning and consideration,
but in light of the email you all received from Interim Board members Sabina Virgo,
Teri Hart, and Bahiya Cabral Johnson, I will explain a bit now, and, Annabel and I
will host an open call Coffee Party Radio Show Wednesday March 23 from 6:00 PM
to 7:00 PM eastern time. During this hour, we want to hear your thoughts and
concerns, and answer questions about the replacement of the Interim Board with a
Transition Team that will fulfill the duties of the Interim Board, including the approval
of funding, the creation of a permanent Board, and the creation of an organizational
infrastructure.

It is not true that an email was sent to the National Team announcing that the
Interim Board would be dissolved. Annabel wrote to members of the National Team
who have been working on a strategic plan, including a process to transition to a
permanent Board. Her purpose was to ask them to join the Transition Team, but
that was as far as we'd gotten. Annabel and I are both very eager to create a
permanent Board, and we are confident that the Transition Team will do so on
schedule by the end of June. This afternoon, we will complete the assembly of
the Transition Team. In the next two weeks, the Transition Team will announce a
process for creating a permanent Board, and, all of you will be invited to participate
in that process.

During the past week or so, Sabina, Teri, and Bahiya had been threatening to
resign. They were angry at Annabel, and their position was, essentially, either
she goes or we go. I spent a lot of time trying to keep the board together
because I felt it would be best for the Coffee Party if none of the Interim Board
members left until their work was completed.

On Monday night, a few hours before the weekly Interim Board call, Sabina told me
that at least one, and possibly 3 Board Members would resign if Annabel was a
participant on the call. I realized then that, even if I could have succeeded in
keeping the Interim Board together, it would not have been in the best interest of
the Coffee Party to continue with 3 board members this unhappy. That's why I
support the decision of our Board of Directors to replace the Interim Board with a
Transition Team.

I am saddened by the tone of the email you received last night, and I can
understand why it may have alarmed you. But I think it's for the best that we
have been jolted into an important realization: The fact is that, for all the qualifi-
cations and best intentions of the individual members of the Interim Board, the
board was not, as a unit, capable of effectively guiding us through the vital process
of forming a permanent Board and creating an infrastructure. In the coming weeks,
some of us will have to take on more responsibility than we might have planned, but
we will pull together, we will be successful with our April actions, and we will
complete the work of the Interim Board on schedule by the end of June.

The Transition Team will be made up of members of the National Team who have
already made great progress on an organizational infrastructure and a plan to
create a permanent Board. At the end of the day, the Coffee Party will be better
served by a team of people who are highly motivated and really enjoy working
together.

I hope you will call in and/or listen to our 6 PM eastern Coffee Party Radio Show.
Annabel and I are eager to speak with you. If you have questions but cannot
make it on the call, please email them to me at XXX@CoffeePartyUSA.com. Thank
you, Eric Byler

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0311/The_Coffee_Party_and_its_discontents.html?showall

QueEx · Mar 27, 2011

actinanass said:
left grassroots is only effective when there's a republican [right] president.

This is doomed before it even starts...

By your myopic and constrained left/right vision, you seem unable to see the wide expanse in between.
Hence, you seem to miss the finer points and, sometimes, the only points.

But, you're right. The Coffee Party may in fact be a failure, just not for the reason you believe.

In my opinion, those left of right (which encompasses a lot of people from just right of center to the left extremes, a group which also includes many independents) need to learn how to reconcile their politically diverse interests with a view towards compromise because neither are likely to prevail over the other -- and this amalgam of interest tends to need each other to move any parts of its agenda along for any appreciable period.

QueEx

Shurnuff · Mar 27, 2011

I heard about this group about a year ago in the Midwest. Can't remember which state but their slogan was "Wake up and smell the Coffee" This was in contrast to the "Tea Party"

actinanass · Mar 28, 2011

QueEx said:
By your myopic and constrained left/right vision, you seem unable to see the wide expanse in between.
Hence, you seem to miss the finer points and, sometimes, the only points.

But, you're right. The Coffee Party may in fact be a failure, just not for the reason you believe.

In my opinion, those left of right (which encompasses a lot of people from just right of center to the left extremes, a group which also includes many independents) need to learn how to reconcile their politically diverse interests with a view towards compromise because neither are likely to prevail over the other -- and this amalgam of interest tends to need each other to move any parts of its agenda along for any appreciable period.

QueEx

Please don't get me wrong. There's no ABSOLUTE sides. However, a movement like this is only effective when the middle is compelled to actually follow the message. The tea party was effective because they were able to put the message out that the Democrats *and some republicans* policies were unacceptable. Not to mention, Obama's policies.

QueEx · May 11, 2011

The "Coffee Party" - Next Big Thing?

QueEx

Rising Star

QueEx

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QueEx

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QueEx

Rising Star

QueEx

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QueEx

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actinanass

Rising Star

QueEx

Rising Star

QueEx

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Shurnuff

5 More Years Bitches!!

actinanass

Rising Star

QueEx

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