200,000 coffee party members and how many millions of tea partiers?
washingtonpost.com > Live Q&As
Coffee Party movement: Alternative to tea
Annabel Park
Coffee Party USA Founder
Friday, February 26, 2010; 2:00 PM
Annabel Park, founder of Coffee Party USA, a grassroots online Facebook/Coffee Party) network which advocates cooperation among elected representatives and promotes civil public discourse, was online Friday, Feb. 26, at 2 p.m. ET to discuss an alternative to the Tea Party movement.
Coffee Party activists say their civic brew’s a tastier choice than Tea Party’s (Post, Feb. 26)
Oak Hill, Va.: Hi Annabel: In some respects I thought the article made too much of the “similarities” between the Tea Party and the Coffee Party....could you give your perspective on the key differences? Thanks.
Annabel Park: A key difference is in our emphasis on the democratic process, on respectful and civil engagement with one another and with our elected officials.
In the current climate, too many Americans are afraid to participate, and find the process itself too alienating, because it is dominated by people with extreme opinions and extreme tactics.
It’s hard to speak up when others in the room are screaming.
So in the end, we may want some of the same things, but we our hoping our journey getting there will be very different.
Philadelphia, Pa.: Is the Coffee Party turning out to align to a specific party —Republican, Democrat, or another party — or is it striving for non-partisanship?
Annabel Park: We are purely grassroots movement, independent of any party, corporation, or lobbying organization. That is our strength and we plan to use it to facilitate a collaborative process that would encourage people to come together as a community, checking party affiliation at the door.
Boston, Mass.: What is one key point that you would like to stress to your early followers and participants in the Coffee Party?
Annabel Park: 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.
We want to offer an alternative, and lead by example.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2010/02/26/DI2010022602928.html