Don't Like the Tea? Try some Coffee

Hi everyone,

I'm back, after yet another unexpected hiatus. Look on the bright side, though; when I do blog, this makes it that much better. Usually I don't do posts like this, but this group seems so promising, and I appreciate what they are trying to do, so I thought I'd devote a post to pay it its due. You've probably heard all the rage over the last year about the tea party and its fiery, anti-government rhetoric. Well, what about those of us who don't want no government, but want a more sensible, sane, dare I say, empathetic government? A government that will be an instrument of We The People, not I the multinational corporation? What about those of us who want a working democracy, and insist on it (how high-maintenance of us)?

Well, look no further than this. Don't get tee'd off, get coffee'd up! The group Coffee Party USA offers a similar grassroots venue for those misfits that I just described above. I count myself as a proud member of this group. Anyway, one difference, aside from the tone, is this group's origins. It has recieved no outside funding, aside from word-of-mouth internet organization. The leader didn't even know there was going to be a movement. The unofficial founder, Anabel Park, 41, is a documentary filmmaker from Vienna, Virginia. She was ranting on facebook, back in February, like I was doing just now. Some people who read what she wrote got together and formed groups at coffee shops, hence the name, coffee party.

The group itself has only been around since late February-early March. This past Saturday, March the 13th, was a national day of organizing events in coffee shops around the US. Another such national day of organization is set for Saturday, March the 27th. The group began in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, and spread across the country. According to local news sources, Coffee party chapters have just opened in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in Pocatello, Idaho, and in Downstate Illinois, aomng others. The group's mission is to promte a civil discourse in our politics, rather than the heated tone it has taken on in recent times.

Now, this group is being pegged by some as the left's equivalent of the tea party, but this is not entirely true. While the stance of the coffee party is an overall progressive stance, there have been reports of conservatives and libertarians attending meetings, and feeling somewhat welcome. Predictably, this is being dismissed by some as just "copy-catting," or "suckers for Obama," and on and on. It is true that most of the participants more likely than not voted for Obama, but since Obama seems to be more concerned with his own political gamesmanship than with the goals the people supported him for, these people are picking up the slack in changing the political culture. Once the culture changes, more changes become possible.

There are also accusations that the group is part of some astroturfing front. Aside from the fact that some of the main organizers of this group volunteered for the DNC, there is little evidence to indicate this. According to Politico, the DNC has no formal ties to the party's organization. Some within the DNC express doubt that the movement can grow with the structure it has. Another way the Coffee Party differs from the Tea Party is that its tactics are different. While the Tea Party organizes demonstrations, the Coffee Party gathers groups together for discussions. Discussions don't make the news the way demonstrations do. This is the challenge the coffee party faces.

Well, I encourage you, if you can, to attend one of these gatherings. If you go to the website, you will see a page where you can find an event near you. Or, if there is not an event near you, you can gather one together. This group is working for something really worth endorsing, which is why it has an uphill battle ahead of it. It isn't going to get wall-to-wall coverage, and since it doesn't have an endless supply of corporate funding behind it, it will be handicapped in some ways. It will be dismissed as a failure, as just a pipe dream. But some of the best things in life were pipe dreams at one time. So, with that in mind, let's get brewing!

This is the Daily Reeder, Over&out.