The Coffee Party

I didn't start this blog to discuss politics - largely because it's a subject that invariably leads to me getting depressed, dejected, or angry, and I want my blog to have a positive message. Amazingly, I think that there just might be a way to stay positive and bring up politics.

I learned about the Coffee Party today. It's a grassroots organization created as a sort of response to the Tea Party. The idea is not to be radical leftists, but rather to be truly non-partisan (if that's even possible) and to bridge the gap between the left and right and to find common ground. The following quote from the group's founder, Annabel Park, in an article in the Washington Postsums it up nicely:

"We want to shift the paradigm from thinking of politics as a zero-sum game with two opposing sides. If one side loses, the other side wins. This is not a democracy. This is a misunderstanding of the tenets of democracy. Democracy is based on the notion of the common good. People should come together to go through a deliberation process to produce collective decisions that benefit the common good. As citizens, we need to find ways to, first, create a stronger sense of community and common good among Americans. And this is precisely why we believe that the rhetorical frameworks currently dominating our political process is not good for the country."

I hope I'm not jumping the gun, but based on what I've seen so far, it seems like the Coffee Party may be the first political organization that I can really get behind. I know I'm not alone in my frustration with the system. It seriously bothers me that our elected officials have a very strong tendency to disagree with the other party just for spite. I'm also not happy about how corporations are able to buy votes. The Coffee Party is trying to change that. I'm not sure how they plan to achieve this, and I don't know if I'm confident that they will be able to, but as long as the movement stays true to its current ideals, then I'm in.

I went to a meeting this afternoon. It wasn't publicized very well, and there were about a dozen people. We had an interesting discussion about what brought us there and what we think we can do to get the message out. The exciting thing was that the people there truly did represent both the right, the left, the middle, and the disenchanted with politics but hopeful that this movement might bring about positive change. It's not a bunch of radical liberals, but rather people genuinely interested in fixing the problems with our current political system.

Next Saturday is "National Coffee Party Day," and there will be meetings all across the country for interested people to get together and to share ideas. These meetings should be well attended, and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of it. If you're interested in finding a meeting in your area, go here.