Saturday, 19 March 2011

About Us | Coffee Party

About Us

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Tue, 02/23/2010 - 6:43pm — Coffee Party USA

Building a Sustainable Movement
When a movement is truly of, for, and by the People, billionaire sponsorship is not required. There are no paid staffers in the Coffee Party.  And all of our methods of networking and communication are freely available on the Internet.

Americans are longing for an energetic, non-partisan, and solutions-oriented approach to political discourse and civic participation. The Coffee Party is a rare achievement of all three ideals. That is why our unplanned, all-volunteer movement went viral so quickly, attracting 335,000 participants on Facebook where our on-going virtual town hall receives as many as 4 million post views per day. Our message of civility and trans-partisan dialogue has allowed us to create an email list of over 65,000.  Our YouTube channel has attracted 325,000 viewers. Our LiveStream channel has already registered 100,000 viewer minutes.  And we created two Ustream channels to archive the first Coffee Party Convention (Channel 1 and  Channel 2).

As we enter our second year, the Coffee Party's long-term focus is to develop, replicate, and sustain an effective method of engagement. We are creating models of participation based on responsible citizenship — a sense of civic duty, patriotism, and a respect for our democratic system of government. Our goal is an informed and involved electorate that takes seriously the responsibilities of citizenship, not only for the purpose of winning elections, but to effectively govern our nation on behalf of The People, and no other interest.

Yes, we are non-partisan, but being non-partisan does not mean we will not take positions. It means that Coffee Party members will arrive at positions based on principles and facts; not based on party affiliation and ideology. It takes more time, it requires more work, and it requires more discipline. But it is what our country needs. Responsible citizenship is required to save our republic. Too many Americans simply adopt the rhetoric, and thus the agenda, of institutions wealthy enough to afford the tools of mass communication. A nation that is self-governed calls upon its citizens to make judgments and decisions for themselves. Thanks to technology available on the Internet, we believe that Americans can meet the challenges of self-governance in the 21st century by becoming active citizens rather than periodic consumers of partisan entertainment.

As members of the Coffee Party, we have found that the practice of responsible citizenship in a creative, collaborative environment fosters a sense of community and civic pride that is its own reward. Love of country is not based on shared resentment, anger, or fear. Love of country is based on shared values and ideals that define us as a people. The accomplishments of our first 8 months, and our future endeavors and future accomplishments, are founded in these ideals. That is what makes our volunteerism worth while. That is what powers our movement.

What ails our democracy, and what will cure it?
We believe that powerful special interests are employing deliberate tactics to divide and distract the American public, making us more susceptible to ill-considered proposals.  Critical policy discussions are subjected to a perpetual cacophony of misinformation designed to breed cultural resentment, and sound policy decisions are undermined by the temptation of our elected leaders to play to this noise instead of the substance of a debate.  The ugliness on television, on talk radio, and on blogs and conspiracy emails is alienating to the vast majority of Americans.  Alienation breeds apathy.  It shrinks participation, and leaves our democracy vulnerable to manipulation by the very special interests who fund and produce this alienation.

We need to learn to recognize and actively resist these tactics. We need to have a good understanding of Constitution and American history, and not allow the Constitution to be appropriated by vocal minorities seeking to advance a narrow, radical agenda. This is why we like to quote the Founding Fathers, Declaration of Independence, and other founding documents. This is why we are hosting a ground-breaking Mock Constitutional Convention. The values and ideals that inspired this country belong to us all; not just those who have the money and the motive to game the system. The only cure for the ailments of partisanship, special interest manipulation, and divisive tactics is active citizenship and informed participation from the American public.

Annabel Park Radio Interview:

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Coffee Party USA draws from diverse backgrounds and diverse perspectives, with the goal of expanding the influence of the People in America's political arena. We do not require nor adhere to any preexisting ideology.  We encourage deliberation guided by reason amongst the many viewpoints held by our members. We see our diversity as a strength, not a weakness, because we believe that faithful deliberation from multiple vantage points is the best way to achieve the common good.  It is in the responsible and reasonable practice of deliberation that we hope to contribute to society.

Coffee Party USA is made up of people acting independently of political parties, of corporations, and of political lobbying networks.  To this point, all products created and hours logged for Coffee Party have been carried out in the spirit of volunteerism.  In the coming months and years, we hope to transform our disappointment in our current political system into a force that will return our nation to a course of popular governance, of the People by the People for the People.

We are diverse — ethnically, geographically, politically, in age and in experience.  

We are 100% grassroots.  No lobbyists here.  No pundits.  And no hyper-partisan billionaires or 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.  

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 power 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. 

Coffee Party USA 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

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"Why I Started Coffee Party USA" by Annabel Park

 CLICK HERE to fact-check rumors & misinformation about the Coffee Party

Annabel Park
Founder, Coffee Party USA

Annabel was born in Seoul, South Korea, and immigrated to America when she was nine years old with her family. She grew up in Texas and Maryland. She studied philosophy at Boston University on a Melville Scholarship and political theory at Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar.

Annabel and Coffee Party co-founder Eric Byler directed the award-winning film 9500 Liberty, a documentary about the immigration culture war of Prince William County, Virginia, 2007-2008.  Due to the federal injunction halting Arizona’s S.B. 1070, 9500 Liberty chronicles the only two months in American history when local law enforcement was mandated to check immigration status based on a standard of suspicion.  

During the past four years of strictly volunteer civic engagement, Annabel has coordinated the historic grassroots campaign for H.Res.121 (the “Comfort Women” resolution) in which the U.S. House of Representatives addressed the trafficking of girls into sexual slavery by the Japanese Army during WWII, produced the viral YouTube video “Si Se Puede Cambiar” in support of Barack Obama’s presidential primary bid, and coordinated the grassroots volunteer campaign Real Virginians for Webb in support of Jim Webb’s 2006 Senate campaign.

Annabel’s life experiences include working with inner city children, management consulting, writing and directing theater, and combining new media and active citizenship. She won The Cameron MacIntosh Award for her playwriting at Oxford University and was selected as a fellow for Film Independent’s Filmmaker Lab in 2005.

CLICK HERE to listen to "Coffee Party Radio"

via coffeepartyusa.com

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