The Coffee Party USA was an American

political movement A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some t ...

that was formed in January 2010 in reaction to the conservative

Tea Party movement The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2007, catapulted into the mainstream by Congressman Ron Paul's presidential campaign. The movement expanded in resp ...

. Co-founder Annabel Park said that the group initially had significant appeal among those opposed to the Tea Party. The Coffee Party USA as a formal organization closed in 2021 and assigned assets to Bridge Alliance Education Fund, continuing their social media activity. The organization's first National Coffee Party Day was held on March 13, 2010.

History

Origins and development

The Coffee Party USA was established on January 26, 2010, on the social networking site

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. It was founded by documentary filmmakers and political activists Annabel Park and Eric Byler. After becoming increasingly frustrated with the incivility and obstructionism in political discourse, and the media narrative that the Tea Party represented America, Park posted a rant on her Facebook page. Numerous positive responses from friends prompted her to start a "Join the Coffee Party Movement" fan page.Coffee Party: a Tea Party Alternative to Meet in Louisville
Courier-Journal; August 25, 2010. The group rapidly grew to over 155,000 Facebook fans in size from word of mouth and social networking in under six weeks. Newsweek noted the Facebook membership had surpassed 200,000 by April 2010, and every status update was receiving about a million views. After collecting input from the first round of national gatherings, the Coffee Party outlined three initial steps to promote

participatory democracy Participatory democracy, participant democracy, participative democracy, or semi-direct democracy is a form of government in which Citizenship, citizens participate individually and directly in political decisions and policies that affect their ...

. "The first step is creating a public space for open and civil dialogue. The second step is collective deliberation, considering facts and values to arrive at a decision. The third step is working toward implementing the decision." Local Coffee Party groups are not yet legally affiliated or authorized to raise funds under the Coffee Party USA name. In March 2011, the organization announced the dissolution of its interim board, and the establishment of a larger Transition Team charged with creating an organizational infrastructure and a permanent Board."

Reception

The Coffee Party has been referred to by some in the media as "more academic and

centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

than some of its members had hoped for but nevertheless, it is a timely and welcome development of a more intellectual form of political activism"; "a latte-sipping, liberal reaction to the populist conservative Tea Party movement"; "left-leaning"; a group that "welcomes everyone and embraces diversity -- ethnic, geographical and even political diversity"; and "a liberal-esque and pro-Obama answer to the conservative tea party movement" with meetings that are "visibly more diverse than the average tea party gathering."

Political positions

After holding a National Coffee Summit and several votes and polls utilizing internet technology, the Coffee Party determined that the overwhelming concern of its members was money in politics, with "95 percent of members voting for a specific course of action, based on support for the Fair Elections Now Act, the

DISCLOSE Act The Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections Act, or DISCLOSE Act, is a federal campaign finance reform bill that has been introduced in the United States Congress since 2010. The bill would amend the Federal Election ...

, the Shareholder Protection Act and a constitutional amendment to reverse

corporate personhood Corporate personhood or juridical personality is the legal notion that a juridical person such as a corporation, separately from its associated human beings (like owners, managers, or employees), has at least some of the legal rights and respon ...

." As of July 2011, the Coffee Party's stated advocacy goals included "reinstituting campaign finance laws, reforming the tax code and restoring Wall St. oversight." Additional areas of concern involved issues of environment,

clean energy Energy is sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Definitions of sustainable energy usually look at its effects on the environment, the economy, and s ...

and

immigration reform Immigration reform is change to the current immigration policy of a country. In its strict definition, ''reform'' means "to change into an improved form or condition, by amending or removing faults or abuses". In the political sense, "immigratio ...

Events

National Coffee House day 2010

The Coffee Party held its initial National Coffee House day event on March 13, 2010. Some 370 events took place across the US and the world, including Tokyo and Jakarta, with the intent to "encourage our existing and soon-to-form chapters to facilitate informative and civil dialogue about issues that affect all of us, collectively. We will ask them to report back to us on what consensus they reach, and take action from there."

National Coffee Summit 2010

On March 27, 2010, approximately 500 Coffee Party meetings took place across the United States. Coffee Party co-founder Annabel Park participated in one of the meetings, which was covered by

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

and was crowded, and she observed that not all of the participants were behaving in a civil manner. ''Newsweek'' reported, "They were angry. They hated the Tea Party, and the Republican Party. They wanted to get even. One audience member said America was under the thumb of oligarchs and denounced 'moneyed interests.' A few people hissed when

Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, and author who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 Republican vice presidential nomi ...

's name was mentioned. Also on hand were the usual suspects drawn to the C-Span bat signal." Some in the crowd even decided they wanted a new leader for the movement, "not someone that says we can all work together." Park said later, "If they want to fire me, this may not be the group for them. We don't want conflict and confrontation."

Coffee Party Convention 2010

The First Annual Coffee Party Convention was held at the Galt House Hotel in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, from September 24 to 26, 2010. Some 350 chapter leaders and organizers met to hone their message before heading across the country in an effort to get people involved in what it considered a responsible way.Coffee party urges voters to get involved at Louisville convention
''

The Courier-Journal The ''Courier Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), and called ''The Courier-Journal'' between November 8, 1868, and October 29, 2017, is a daily newspaper published in ...

''; September 25, 2010. Featured events included a " Mock Constitutional Convention" co-chaired by Republican communication strategist for Bush and McCain,

Mark McKinnon Mark David McKinnon (born May 5, 1955) is an American political advisor, reform advocate, media columnist, and television producer. He was the chief media advisor to five successful presidential primary and general election campaigns, and is a co ...

, and Harvard Law School Professor

Lawrence Lessig Lester Lawrence "Larry" Lessig III (born June 3, 1961) is an American legal scholar and political activist. He is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the former director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvar ...

; ''Across the Political Divide: A Transpartisan Dialogue'' with Joseph McCormick and a roundtable with journalist Linda Killian of '' U.S. News & World Report'' on the question, "What Can We Do for Our Country?" There were also scheduled workshops and panel discussions including members of both major political parties, chairwoman

Amy Kremer Amy Kremer (born 1970 or 1971) is an American political activist known for her roles in the Tea Party movement and as a supporter of Donald Trump. She became involved in the Tea Party movement in 2009 and campaigned as part of the Tea Party Expr ...

of the

Tea Party Express The Tea Party Express is a California-based group founded in the summer of 2009 to support the Tea Party movement. Founded as a national bus tour to rally Tea Party activists, the group's leadership also endorses and promotes conservative candidat ...

and co-founder Annabel Park of the Coffee Party.Coffee Party Convention to be Streamed Live
Coffee Party USA; September 22, 2010.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coffee Party Usa 2009 in American politics 2010 in American politics 21st-century social movements Political terminology of the United States Protests in the United States Political movements in the United States 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations