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Monday, March 1, 2010

"WAKE UP AND STAND UP"

I’m not much of a political person, I listen to what’s on the news, but sometimes I just don’t care about what our politicians say. I know that’s not very good since I am a journalist and all, but I’ve never really had an interest in that stuff. I’ll have you know though, I am signed up for a political science class for spring quarter, Current World Problems, so who knows what I will get out of that and how my views of political science will change after that.

Anyways, this is going to be post sort of off-topic, but I saw this and became very interested in it and thought a lot of other people would be too.

Forty-one-year-old Documentary filmmaker, Annabel Park may have just started something that could really make some changes in this country and it all started with a simple update on Facebook...this is what that update said, from the National Post.

“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.”

This update got enough positive feedback from her friends, that Park decided to create a ‘Coffee Party Movement’ fan page on Facebook. This movement is basically a reaction to the U.S. Tea Party movement. Park sees the Tea Party as somewhat anti-democratic- “trying to obstruct the elected government’s reform rather than working to improve it.” For those that do not know, the Tea Party movement was formed in early 2009 in response the the federal government’s stimulus package, which was the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The fan page has been on Facebook since Jan. 26 and more than 43,000 people have joined to date. You may be thinking, how is this newly formed party movement going to accomplish anything? That’s where the people come into play. Local chapters are being formed everyday (already in at least 30 states) and that is their voice in the entire matter. In an interview from the Washington Post, Park said,”We are a democracy and every vote DOES count, and we have to engage everyone in the political process--that’s the only way we’re going to have a government that represents the will of the people.”

Courtesy of the Coffee Party Movement Website, this is the mission statement:
MISSION: The Coffee Party Movement gives voice to Americans who want to see cooperation in government. We recognize that the federal 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 that we face as Americans. As voters and grassroots volunteers, we will support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable those who obstruct them.


The Coffee Party has a Web site where people are actively posting on forum topics and learning how to make a new chapter. The Coffee Party is diverse and 100% grassroots. This means that the party won’t go anywhere without the help of its supporters and volunteers, so if you are interested in joining you can follow the party on Twitter or join the Facebook fan page.

Like I said in the beginning of this post, I am not really into politics, but I think Park started something that may help with political decisions down the road. I think it’s great so many people are supporting it so early since it was formed just a little over a month ago.

What are your thoughts on this new Coffee Party Movement?

 
Coffee Party Movement logo with slogan. Courtesy of the movements Facebook Fan Page.


--Tricia

3 comments:

Benjamin said...

Ha ha, that is a great name. I became a fan on facebook.

I really hope that in fifty to a hundred years, this becomes a major political party. So long after the tea party movement has died and been forgotten about, we still have the coffee party, and nobody can remember why it is called that. That would delight me to no end.

Tricia Flickinger said...

Ha! Let me just say, you would become a fan of this. :)

Niklos Salontay said...

I'm not huge on coffee, but I would be down to grab a cup and discuss the days issues from time to time if it were organized here.

Therefore, I hereby nominate Tricia for local Coffee Party representative.

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