Whether you are a Republican, Democrat, third party or
undecided, there is one thing we can all agree on: this campaign season needs
to calm down and quit drinking too much coffee. I know my first blog post was
about how coffee is a good thing; however, I think this campaign season is a
good example of what too much coffee can do to a group of people.
But there might be a light at the end of the tunnel for all
of us coffee drinkers!
You might not know this but there is an actual Coffee Party.
I am going to take a moment to let you clean up the coffee
you just spit out of your mouth because you were too shocked to learn that
there is an actual Coffee Party.
Before I get too far into the blog post, I need to warn my
readers that I am not promoting the ideals of the Coffee Party USA. Instead, I
am reporting the facts.
Yes, I understand this is a blog and if I want to talk about
supporting a party that is named after my favorite beverage, I can. However, I
feel it is more important to talk about the facts.
In the beginning
Coffee Party USA is a grassroots, non-partisan movement whose
goal is to restore the democratic process.
Annabel Park started Coffee Party USA as a Facebook page on January
26, 2010. Within four months, the page had more than 200,000 memberships and each
status had over a million views.
Park wrote an article to
CNN in March of 2010. In the article,
she discussed where the idea of the Coffee Party came from:
“I had no idea what would transpire. It
was about 1:30 a.m. January 26, and I was very frustrated with the endless news
coverage about the Tea Party and
the growing narrative that it represented America.”
The first Coffee Party Convention was held in September of
2010. Over 50 chapter leaders and organizers met to discuss the party platform.
The Coffee Party does not endorse candidates. Instead, they are
focused on issue that can help change Washington.
They have posted a couple of articles encouraging members to
continue the practices of the party.
One of my favorite
articles was by Tim Danahey, Coffee Party
USA Director of Public and Member Relations.
In the article, he describes to members how to engage in a discussion with
someone who doesn’t agree with them .
Political Positions
A Denver Post
article acknowledged the Coffee Party as a “more
academic and
centrist” group. They continued to say, “it is a timely and
welcome development of a more intellectual form of political activism."
They also tend to be rational in their
decisions and they do not jump to conclusions.
But I cannot truly make this statement until we establish
the facts.
Objectives and ideals
***The
following italic words can be found at the official Coffee Party USA
website.
Mission Statement
“Building,
nurturing and connecting communities to reclaim our government for the
people.”
The organization’s mission statement is based on the
principle of the government is "not the enemy of the people, but the
expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the
democratic process in order to address the challenges we face as
Americans."
Vision Statement
“Coffee
Party USA envisions a nation of diverse communities sharing a culture of
informed public engagement where our sacred right to vote is the only currency
of our representative democracy.”
Civility Pledge
“As
a member or supporter of the Coffee Party, I pledge to conduct myself in a way
that is civil, honest, and respectful toward people with whom I disagree. I
value people from different cultures, I value people with different ideas, and
I value and cherish the democratic process.”
Civility
We empathize and engage with one another
exercising humility, listening, honesty and respect, in order to provide an
emotionally safe environment even when we disagree.
Continuous Learning
We seek the truth, learn the facts, and
share with others to make informed decisions relevant to the ongoing
improvement of ourselves, the nation and our shared, overlapping lives.
Authenticity & Transparency
Because we are human, in our genuine
quest to restore our republic's representative democracy we may stumble, but we
will do so in plain sight, with trust and expecting a hand up from one another.
Goals
Electoral Reform
o Campaign Finance Reform: Pass campaign finance laws that
limit the impact of special interest groups such as corporations, major
political parties and lobbyists.
o Redistricting: End gerrymandering to protect seats for a
party control.
Corruption Law Reform
o Public Accountability: Hold public servants (politicians,
judges, law enforcement officers, etc.) accountable for their actions and
decisions. Public servants must not be allowed to act outside the interest of
everyday people. They must be honest and transparent (whether it’s in lobby
ties, privacy invasion, labeling, or environmental impact).
o Corporate Reform: Corporations are not people, but consist of
people as workers, shareholders, board members et al. End Corporate Welfare and
all Cronyism between corporations and government. Corporations have a
responsibility to respect and support (employees and the general public).
o Wall Street Reform: Reform banking and corporate oversight
laws to protect everyday people. Appropriately fund and improve audit and
reporting standards.
Tax Reform
o Citizen-Oriented Taxes: Pass or repeal tax laws to reduce
our debt, enhance society, and create economic growth.
o Equitable Taxation: The burden of taxation must be applied
fairly to businesses and people.
Inclusive Empowerment
o Mutual Respect: Treat everyone with dignity and acceptance
regardless of every ethnicity, national origin, religious orientation, sexual
identity, political outlook, or income level in a manner which is civil and
meaningful.
o Inclusive Dialogue: Support an Informed Citizenry with an
inclusion of all viewpoints with civil presentation and encouragement of civil
conversation.
o Constructive Collaboration: Create and support standards and
practices for collaborative work and develop a commitment to each other to get
to know one another while we impact the country.
In Conclusion
This campaign season might be crazy; but, I hope you walked away from this post learning something new. I hope you learned there are various political parties in the country.
They might not have a candidate running for office but they have ways to get people involved.
For example, the Coffee Party is doing a bumper sticker campaign titled, "Vote Anyway." The goal of this campaign is to encourage citizens to vote, even though many would say it does not matter.
So go do research and learn more about politics. You might be surprised to learn that there is a political party that supports your ideas and is named after your favorite beverage.
