Got an email from the supposedly centrist and civil Coffee Party asking me to send an email to my Congress critter. Here is what they suggested on their website. (Have to click a few links to get there.)
We do not consent to the world's first Great Depression On-Purpose. We demand a balanced approach to solving our fiscal problems that will not put the entire burden on the poor and middle class. We see through the ransom demands from radical extremists and representatives in Congress who have pledged their loyalty to a rigid ideology instead of the American people. We will not stand by quietly and bear the entire burden of solving problems that were caused by irresponsibility in Washington and on Wall Street. If you ignore our phone calls and emails, expect to see us in your local offices and at your town halls. One way or another we will be heard and our nation's interest will be served, or, you will lose the privilege of representing us.
Here is what I sent (they let you edit your letter, probably a bad move on their part.)
We do not consent to the world's first Great Depression On-Purpose. We demand a balanced budget to solve our fiscal problems. We see through the ransom demands from radical extremists and Democrats in Congress who have pledged their loyalty to a rigid ideology instead of the American people. Stop the spending madness.
We will not stand by quietly and bear the entire burden of solving problems that were caused by irresponsibility in Washington and on Wall Street. If you ignore our phone calls and emails, expect to see us in your local offices and at your town halls. One way or another we will be heard and our nation's interest will be served, or, you will lose the privilege of representing us.
We demand that you get some serious budget cutting equal to the amount the debt ceiling will be raised.
I have put a poll about the Value Added Tax, since this will be on Obama's agenda in the future. B-Daddy's very short take on the idea of a new tax. Hell No. Now what if we threw in the same bill, the total elimination of the income tax? Now you're talking. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen, but I want to hear from the readers anyway. The other drawback of the VAT is that it is even less visible than the income tax and payroll tax, at least I can look at my pay stub and see what those are costing me. The VAT is so well hidden it really allows government to grow, but only when the private sector grows. Since it is simple, it will distort the economy far less than the income tax. Regardless, please take our poll. I'd like to hear from the Coffee Party on this issue, especially in the comment.
On Sunday I published another piece about the Coffee Party and their progressive roots and national organization. This prompted a comment from Mike James who met me at the first San Diego Coffee Party. I liberated part of his quote:
I don't want this to be "Us against them." Of course the media would love that.
The consensus at most of our meetings is to address the issue of Campaign Finance Reform . I believe that will be the first priority of the Coffee Party.
This issue should be non-partisan. Both Democratic and Republicans politicians are influenced by money from corporations, PAC's and Unions.
We all want to be heard, we want our politicians to be accountable.
Gerrymandering is another area to explore. The lines have drawn in California to where incumbents need not listen to all sides of an argument.
Think of the results, if citizens from differing sides of the political spectrum can come together on this issue.
O.K. maybe I'm a disillusional, but a guy can dream can't he,
I appreciate Mike James' comments and meeting him as well. I will admit that I saw no nastiness at the Coffee Party meeting I attended. I also think us vs. them does no one any good, but seems an inevitable media angle, given the name they have chosen for themselves. However, if the Coffee Party and Tea Party want to make common cause, then we must select causes we have in common. With respect to campaign finance reform, I submit that we won't agree. Yes, there is money in politics that distorts the process, but 40+ years of effort haven't removed the money. It is important to understand why this will never happen as long as the First Amendment is the law of the land. The federal government has become like Mom and Dad, with citizens and corporations as the kids. It is able to reward some groups and punish others. Currying favor becomes necessary to both thriving and mere survival. It is now a routine practice among many big corporations to seek help from the Justice Department in their competitive battles, for example. The tax code has grown to hundreds of thousands of pages, sprinkled with goodies for every interest group around. It is the very complexity of regulation and taxation that draws special interest money into politics, like flies to sugar.
Steve Forbes put it best in the mid-1990s. If you have a vermin problem in the kitchen, you can set traps, put out poison and board up the house all you want, but sooner or later, your going to have to stop leaving the cake under the kitchen sink. Unless we reduce the size and role of the government at all levels, and only vote for politicians who work to do so, the role of corporate money will only increase.
So here is my counter-proposal to the Coffee Party. If you want an anti-corporate agenda that the Tea Party can get behind, then let's end all corporate welfare, starting with ethanol subsidies, paying farmers to not farm, quotas on sugar imports, and most importantly, all the bailouts of big corporations and the "too big to fail" theory. Let some of these corporate fat cats go out of business when their excessive risk taking gets them into trouble, and don't spend my tax dollars on bailing them out. Now there's an anti-corporate agenda I can get behind.
Now I have to admit, I do like the gerrymandering issue, because right now, there are VERY safe Republican and Democrat seats. This has the effect of hardening positions and allowing the majority party to be led by the most extreme element within it. If Coffee partiers want to make this their cause, I would personally support it; I think most other Tea partiers would as well. I don't know that it would rise to the top of our list, but it still might be a worthy cause. The cynic in me says that this is not really going to be a Coffee Party top priority, because the current system gives "progressives" an outsize voice to their actual numbers, but, to coin a phrase, a guy can dream can't he?
I went over and looked at the San Diego News Network article suggested by Mutnodjmet. Overall the Coffee Party almost strains at sounding very reasonable. But reasonable or not, sometimes there is something called the hedgehog principle that applies. I first read of this in Jim Collins compelling management primer, Good to Great. Here is a quick explanation:
The Hedgehog concept compares two animals; a fox, which is very clever and knows many creative ways to get a meal, and the hedgehog, a somewhat dull animal that knows one, and only one, thing. To roll into a spiked ball for protection.
In this animal scenario the hedgehog always wins, because despite the fox's many clever tricks and high intelligence, there's no getting around a spiky ball.
I liken the Tea Party movement to the hedgehog. The coffee party may have deep discussions and understand the complexities of this or that government policy. They may see corporate practices they don't like. They will probably come up with a complex agenda to address all this, bringing the best progressive brain power the nation has to offer. They "will offer solutions on solving problems within the federal government, particularly when it comes to finances." And they will still fail, because they don't get the ONE BIG THING. The Tea Party knows one thing that has complex causes and effects, but it is still one thing:
Government has grown too big and become a threat to our liberty and well being.
That's it, that's all we really need to know. We can debate a thousand questions about flat tax or gerrymandering, and I will certainly join in; just don't forget the one thing, because now it's time to take action to make government smaller and more accountable. (As an aside, Ronald Reagan knew one thing, "Communism could and should be defeated." He too was derided as a simpleton.)
My reporting from the first San Diego Coffee Party meeting generated my most comments ever for a post. It also caused me a bit of anxiety, because I was criticized by some of the people I had met for treating them unfairly. I have always cared deeply about the tone of this blog. Their actions since have only eased my conscience. Today, I received a follow up email from the national leadership about what the Coffee Party had decided were the most important issues facing the country. Anything about looming and ever growing debt and deficits at all level of government? No way, down with corporations is our motto. From the email:
Hello B,
We have some exciting announcements to make.
Take the Coffee Party Priorities Poll in the next 48 hours.
Based on reports from Coffee Party USA meetings and online discussions, Money in Politics and Wall Street Reform have emerged as top legislative priorities for our community. Before we consider various solutions to these issues as a community, we ask for your direct input. There will be other issues and priorities as we go forward. This poll is to select our first actions to impact legislation at the national level. So please take the poll before NOON ET on Monday April 12th.
After you take the poll, go to coffeepartyusa.com and join a local Coffee Strategy Session on Money in Politics and/or Wall Street Reform in your community.
In the coming weeks, we plan to vote online about whether or not we support specific legislation on Money in Politics and/or Wall Street Reform (depending on results of the Priorities poll. So please take time to engage in informed deliberation -- in coffee shop meetings and our newly organized online forums.
As a community, let's show Washington how we create positive solutions together.
For Local groups: You can also choose your own issues to work on as well. We encourage you to go through a democratic process and take the time to make an informed decision.
-Annabel, and your Coffee Party Team
Can't you just smell the fertilizer of the grassroots activism?
I removed some of their HTML coding in the above quotes so that you wouldn't click the link and get a cookie intended for me. Also, Anabel's return email address is at coffeepartyusa.org. And to think I was excoriated for suggesting that this might be a top down political organization directed from a national level.
Most importantly, the coffeepartyusa.org web site is actually hosted by the owners of democracyinaction.org domain. Here is what a Google search turned up when I type in democracyinaction.org:
A non-profit organization, DIA offers a web-based tool that progressive organizations to send emails to Congress [sic].
And nothing says non-partisan, coming together as a community like "progressive;" DIA standing for democracy in action in the above quote. So there you have it, my hard evidence that the coffee party is just a masquerade for typical lefty astroturfing. They have no doubt, sucked in a number of innocent victims. I figured out that little nugget about the web hosting because I turned off "display html" in my email, which I suggest to everyone for the safety of their online experience.
I can't resist one more quote from the coffee party; after reviewing all these facts what do you think about their "about us" page:
We are 100% grassroots. No lobbyists here. No pundits. And no hyper-partisan 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 corporate interests as expressed by misleading advertisements and campaign contributions.
And where is the lame stream media, who called the Tea Party astroturfers? I don't normally complain, because at some point an issue like the lefty bias in the news media ceases to be a problem and becomes just a fact; but sometimes the hypocrisy is a bit overwhelming.
A couple of more thoughts on yesterday's coffee party event. I really liked their dedication to civility in talking to our neighbors. There were some people at the coffee party whose views were not left of center, (libertarian or other) and others who clearly had an agenda (like the guy who wouldn't give up talking about his petition for majority rule); all were treated respectfully, kudos to the organizers. However, I think that our neighbors on the left think we have been shouting at them; we are not. The Tea Party Patriots have indeed been shouting, not at our neighbors, but at our elected officials, because they have refused to listen. Interestingly, many of those at yesterday's coffee party also complain that elected politicians don't listen to them either.
I was also heartened by the reading of the preamble to the Constitution. Even if we don't fully agree on interpretation, it forms a basis for discussion and even dialog on matters politic. Further, it gives us the chance to ask this question of our neighbors on the left, "What limits does the Constitution place on the federal government?" It would be unreasonable for the answer to be none.
I attended a Coffee Party meeting at noon today at Lestat’s West on Adams Ave. The location was the first clue as to the orientation of the majority of the group and it didn’t disappoint. To be fair, there were some outliers. After some preliminary remarks the facilitator had everyone in the room, eventually 78 people, say why they had come. This round of introductions was interrupted when the KFMB camera and reporter showed up and the facilitator repeated some ground, including this telling welcome: “Welcome to the first meeting of the San Diego Tea Party.” By his own admission, the Tea Party was clearly on his and everyone else’s minds.
The attendees were mostly of the left of center, progressive type. I took notes as each attendee introduced themselves, but rather than put you in a stupor with all 70+, here are some common themes that emerged. Most people had some anti-corporation animus, often fueled by the recent Supreme Court decision. In my own remarks, I played off that by pointing out how the government subsidizes corporations and used ethanol helping ADM and health care bill forcing Americans to buy from health insurers as examples. There were at least six references to “government is not the enemy” which was seen as a counter-theme to the Tea Party movement. A number alluded to air time given the movement by CNN, MSNBC and Rachel Maddow in particular. A number of people had worked on other campaigns in the past 3 for Ross Perot, 1 for John Anderson and 1 for Donna Frye. There were a couple of outliers, one self identified libertarian and a Navy guy who said national security was his main concern (don’t think he’ll be back).
Enough about the folks. The leadership of the meeting had a very tight focus and stuck to the agenda see documents below. The leader, er facilitator, wore a black T shirt that said OBRAG.org (a self styled Ocean Beach “progressive” group) in green letters and a little peace sign for the O. I was struck by how often he kept saying how “national” wants us to do this or that. He started sounding like Michael Scott on The Office, talking about how “corporate” says this or that. Because they never really got around to articulating any positions, nor could they get any agreement about a common position, it had the feel of a front organization from the 30’s or 50’s.
The final outcome? They all agreed on making a sign. It said “San Diego Civility.” I agree, I’m for civility, having seen nothing but that at the Tea Party rallies; the mighty Waynok, my independent observer, agrees. They also agreed to separate into three subgroups: "Mid-City", "West of I-5", and "East County" and meet again in two weeks. South Bay didn’t quite get enough attendees for its own group.
Honestly, I can’t see where this is going, but it has clear national direction. But it has this whole hierarchical feel to it, unlike the Tea Party which is very decentralized. No one seemed to mind either. Having been to a number of libertarian confabs, this was quite the shock to me. Libertarians can't even agree on a dinner menu. Also, there seemed to be only one ironclad rule that the facilitator enforced, the next meeting of the sub-group had to be in a coffee shop. No kidding. I think this might be a long term weakness.
There were also some good things about the whole event. If people really start getting involved and holding politicians accountable to the people, even if different segments don’t agree, that will still be good for this country. The public at large does agree on a few things, that deficits are hurting the economy and that giveaways to special interests and pork barreling are harming the average citizen.
I was also struck by how many people were upset by the polarization of the country, where they felt that friendships were damaged by political differences. I agree. Objective polling shows the country is getting more polarized. Finding some ground that is truly common will help the nation. Stopping special interest pork might be one place to start.
Handouts for the Day (We Are Very ORGANIZED): (Click to enlarge)
Agenda:
Da Rules:
Vision:
UPDATE: One of the attendees posted video on YouTube. Yours truly is featured at about the 45 second mark; I will make no editorial comment about my own demeanor.
UPDATE: Clarification
In the comments, OB Rag takes my comment about a "top down" approach as criticism that the movement was somehow not authentic, and indeed some readers appear to have taken it that way. I meant to merely contrast the difference between the Tea Party and the Coffee Party. Those in the Coffee Party approach their movement with a hierarchical view of organization. Even if the the national headquarters is someone's garage, it doesn't change the fact that the outlook is hierarchical. Many of us in the Tea Party are deliberately viewing our movement through the lens provided by The Starfish and the Spider, and using the techniques and mental models provided by that book to build a networked, leaderless organization. Hierarchical and networked organizations are neither good nor evil per se, examples of networked organizations included the American revolutionaries, al-Qaeda and the current Tea Party movement. Hierarchies surround us daily and include our own federal government, most corporations, and the Communist Party cells of the last century.
Three quick items. I saw an article on HufPo, which I will not dignify with a link, that basically says the Tea Party is racist. The logic? Tea Party's are against the bank bailouts but also against banking reform, so we don't have any valid position. (That the allege reform might make matters worse, doesn't occur to this political Einstein.) Therefore only racism is left. Obviosusly. Plus Tea Party types didn't protest Bush doing the same things that Obama is now doing, therefore the only possible explanation is racism. The fact that there are many African-Americans in the movement overlooked. The fact that maybe we just hit the limit, the fact that Obama's deficits are multiples of Bush, with no end in sight? None of this occurs to the wingnuts.
There will be a Coffee Party right here in San Diego, at Lestat's Coffee House in the heart of North Park. Noon, Sat. March 13. You can sign up here. Note that the Coffee Party is supposedly all about the love and cooperation to solve our nation's problems (read pass Obamacare.) So I'm thinking, what if I sign up and show up with my Viva la Reagan Revolucion T? How much love do you thing I would get? What if lots of Tea Party types signed up? If I went, I would absolutely be on my best behavior, because I like the fact that people are caring about the political process. But I just predict intolerance from this movement. (BTW, there might be common ground for discussion, on the Coffee Party facebook page they linked to an article about how the Senate health care bill provides all sorts of loopholes for insurers to game the system. An opening discussion point might with a lefty type might go like this. "Hey I noticed how forcing more Americans to purchase health care is a big windfall for the insurance industry. We must oppose such a calamity.")
And in the category of "I should have known better," the Daily Kossacks have dropped any pretense that they are against Obamacare because it doesn't contain a public option and are in full throated cheerleading mode. I think this means we can't count on any principles from House Democrat lefties who might vote against a bill that in fact violates many of their stated principles.
P.S. While writing this post, I signed up for that coffee party. Don't know if I'll go, any advice?
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