The Coffee Party!

Coffee cup

I find this amusing on so many levels, but principally because I’m always glad for an excuse to protest coffee.

It seems that there are some people who don’t like the rhetoric of the Tea Party (many of them supported Obama – go figure), so in protest they’ve formed…drumroll pleasethe COFFEE party!! From what I can tell, it seems to be about “coming together”, positive ideas, holding hands-and-singing-kumbaya, etc. (As opposed to the Tea Party, which is all about dumping things overboard, I suppose.)

Now, I’m all for coming together and everything, but folks, there are some things worth fighting for! If at this critical time in our country you’re more interested in “coming together” than drawing a line in the sand, you’re either a traitor or an idiot. Put that in your coffee and sip it!

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Update: it seems the founder of the Coffee Party is an Obama operative and a former New York Times strategist. No wonder she’s getting so much media attention. Can anyone say astroturf?

 

5 comments

  1. Hi…just stumbled upon your post.

    Actually, I’m working on planning a trip with my teenage son to Washington, DC and stumbled upon via Google your beautiful photos of your trip to Washington. Thanks for posting them as they gave me ideas for our trip. My 15 y.o. son has an interest in John Calhoun and on doing a search for him, your photo of him came up.

    About the Coffee Party and such. Umm…just because people are seeking to engage -to participate- in our republic, doesn’t make them – or me!- traitors or an idiots. the Coffee Party peopple I’ve met with only want to have civil discourse on complex issues. Discourse that doesn’t break down into the simple black/white of name calling and white-faced posters of the President.

    This does not make them in any sense naive. Quite the opposite, actually, as they believe these issues are so complex they require meaningful and civil debate.

    The very fact that my son and I are driving to Washington DC and learn more of our great republic can be said to demonstrate both his and my love of country and its processes. We’re not traitors and anyone who labels us as traitors are acting dishonestly.

    The very fact that both he and I research and debate today’s issues relentlessly is an attribute that we’re not idiots. We just disagree with you. That doesn’t make us in any way idiots.

    I love my country and am willing to live and die for it. I’ve studied this matters -much more than most- and have come to the conclusion that for our democratic republic to work, people have to engage with one another in a civil way and not label those with who they disagree with pejoratives as a way of demeaning them.

    Such civility, by the way, is what I found more of down South as in my years as consultant (especially in Georgia and Texas) than even up North where I live (Massachusetts).

    Even so, where I come from, I was taught that calling people names such as “traitor” or “idiot” is, well, not only uncivil but a form of dishonesty when a person is neither. Obviously, I disagree with your labels, but neither do I stoop to pejoratives as a way of disagreeing.

    My wife was actually thinking last week of going to South Carolina with her mom and sisters. A more gentle and polite group of women can’t be found. She went online and such to find out about the state. Talked to me about it. Then she thought about it. She told me, “Well, this is South Carolina. We’re from Massachusetts. We really want to see their beautiful state, but….maybe they’re just unfriendly to us as much as we’d just want to tour such a beautiful place. After all, look how that man yelled at the President during his speech. That was more than inappropriate- he’s the President from crying out loud. Maybe that’s how they’ll treat us, too, if we go down there, if not to our faces.” So she changed her mind and is going elsewhere.

    Is that true? Are people from South Carolina so eager to act so disrespectfully to people they don’t agree with? Your state is gaining that kind of reputation – at least enough so that it wards away the most gentle and polite of people such as my wife, her sisters, and her mom. There are plenty of other places to go, and perhaps you and yours don’t want them anyways. They’ll spend their money elsewhere.

    Now. here’s my challenge: If you do reply to me, will you stoop to calling me more names, or accept that others can be loyal to country, be just as smart as you, and yet disagree?

    1. Most kind and sensitive liberal people like you don’t realize you are being used as pawns by progressive socialistic democrats to further their agenda. Just be aware, in chess, and in politics, pawns are viewed as expendable. What this world needs is kind and gentle, wise and tenacious-for-freedom people.

  2. Hey Mr. Dave,

    Thanks so much for commenting! The pictures were taken by my sister Priscilla, who is learning photography.

    I understand where you are coming from, but I think you missed my main point. I realize that working together is a necessity. The key word is “more.” (If you are MORE interested in coming together than in “drawing a line in the sand”)

    You can’t sit down to work with anyone unless there’s some commonality somewhere, some fundamental principles that you agree on. If those you’re trying to work with refuse to accept your non-negotiable conditions (in my case, the principles of the Declaration of Independence), then it’s no longer a mere disagreement, but a fight for survival.

    I think most of Americans do agree with those principles, even if they would characterize themselves as liberals. That is why we see so many of the (my aunt, for instance) suddenly becoming more conservative. It’s because they see that this administration’s agenda is attacking everything this country has always stood for. No longer is it a debate over means to a particular end: the end itself is now the point of disagreement. And if that is the case, there can be no working together. It’s just not possible.

    As far as Joe Wilson is concerned, I would never have yelled “You lie!” as he did, but this is what we need to understand. The most gentle, sweet dog will retaliate if it feels threatened, or if you threaten the ones it loves. Joe Wilson is a very non-confrontational, gentle person, and I think it was a very strong sense of betrayal by the President that moved him to that breach of decorum. I’m just saying that what you saw was not his personality, at all.

    South Carolinians are among the most hospitable people you can find. If your wife and relatives do decide to come here, I think I can promise her she won’t be treated as anything less than a guest.

    Please understand, though, that the traditional values that teach us the importance of hospitality and kindness also teach us the importance of responsibility and the value of freedom, i.e. conservatism. Those who attack those values are trying to undermine the Southern heritage that you appreciate so much. And make no mistake about it, we will fight for that heritage. However, we do try to be nice while doing it.

    I hope you and your son have a great trip to DC. If you get a chance, I would recommend taking a twilight bus tour of the monuments. We really enjoyed that – it was beautiful to see them at night, and the tour guide was very knowledgeable and informed about the history of the monuments. Take care, and thanks again for commenting!

  3. I agree with many things Dave said and would like to add a few of my own thoughts. Myself, and the people I have met that have “joined” the Coffee Party are looking to find common ground with people we may not line up with politically.
    My father is a great man, but when him and I are forced to choose a political side, we fall on opposite sides. What do we have to choose R or D? What seems to have been lost in the partisan debate is the many shades of gray between the two extremes. Things are not simply black and white, left or right, or right or wrong.

    The Coffee Party seeks to find things people have in common by providing a forum for people to talk, discuss, and debate in a civil and constructive manner.

    Who wins when we scream, yell, call each other names, and resort to violence. I in general do not agree with the tactics of the Teaparty, but through conversations with my father, I have come to realize we have more in common politically than I would have thought.

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