Why The Coffee Party Movement Could Fail

OFF TO A DELIBERATELY SLOW START



When Annabel Park launched into a Facebook tirade, in January of this year, about how the Tea Party movement seemed to be portrayed as the only grassroots voice of political change, she struck a gigantic nerve. The onetime Obama “Campaign Operative” (right wing reality-speak for unpaid volunteer) soon launched the well-intentioned, if somewhat awkwardly named, Coffee Party USA movement. In barely two months this idea has attracted nearly 200,000 Facebook fans, some 50,000 more than the Tea Party has gathered in over a year. Bearing in mind that the Tea Party crowd isn’t a very Facebook-friendly demographic, this is still quite an accomplishment.

Ms. Park, her filmmaking partner Eric Byler and those they have gathered to steer this national movement, have been given a tremendous opportunity to facilitate a great political shift in this country. They awoke the liberal giant in America which seemed to be napping ever since the Inauguration of Barack Obama. They could have shown this country the size and power of a reality based American majority which has become lost in the cacophony of right wing disinformation and extremism. It was probably too late for them to move health reform legislation in a more progressive direction. However, they could still provide the Democrats in congress with a visible demonstration of this majority, one which Democrats clearly need in order to hold firmly to their principles on upcoming legislative issues like financial reform, immigration and the environment.

Instead, Ms. Park offered this on Tuesday as a blueprint for the future: “We are working around the clock to figure out what the best process and available tools are for deliberating issues and voting on collective actions. While we will continue to meet regularly in coffee shops, at least half of our activities will take place online. E-democracy is still an experimental field ...with many promising developments, but no obvious precedents. We are taking some time to research which tools would best serve our needs as a growing, bottom-up, grassroots community. Within a matter of weeks, we should be able to share with you some effective offline and online tools so that we 1) Facilitate open, civil dialogue, 2) Engage in informed deliberation, and 3) Vote on our actions and proposed solutions using a secure, transparent process. In short, we will practice democracy together as a community, as fellow Americans and our voices will be heard across the country and in Washington.”
--- Annabel Park, 3/30/10, www.Facebook.com/JointheCoffeePartyMovement .

Rather than assemble a real political alternative to the Tea Party, they have chosen instead to settle for some kind of touchy-feely, national political E-group therapy session, where right wing propagandists are encouraged to freely dump their garbage anytime, with the assurance that no one will be able to call them out for just who and what they are. After all, that would be uncivil. Once again, the great liberal majority in America has raised its massive head, surveyed the nationwide damage being wrought by right wing zealots and offered its ferocious battle cry, “Can’t we reach some kind of consensus here? Can we just be a little nicer to each other, OK?” You’ll forgive the conservative movement for not exactly shaking in their (Jack) boots.


THE FACEBOOK ISSUE

Three weeks ago the Coffee Party’s Facebook page was a beautiful thing to behold. With only a sliver of national media attention, a couple of reports on CNN and one mention on MSNBC, people were pouring in to the tune of more than 10,000 per day, clearly giddy that they had found an outlet which would surely stand up against the right wing nonsense and Tea Party vitriol they were being bombarded with every day in the media. They were dying to take part in such a crusade.

Look at Coffee Party’s Facebook page today. Go ahead, look at it. This column will still be here when you’re done. www.facebook.com – Join the Coffee Party Movement, under “Just Fans”. This page is still the movement’s main avenue for member communication. It is looking more and more like just another political Facebook page every day. Right wingers link to disinformation sources, incite debate and then deny every fact that’s presented by rational people, until said rational folks just give up and go away, leaving the righty behind to claim ideological victory. Engaging in internet debate with a right wing activist is not unlike trying to swim in quicksand. Eventually you tire of the whole experience because you realize that, no matter what you say or how well you present fact or argument, you are debating with a brick wall.

Here are a couple of examples of what I dealt with on that page within just the last 72 hours; One disingenuous individual posts a story about the AAPS’s (American Association of Physicians and Surgeons) intention to file a lawsuit seeking repeal of the new healthcare reform law. He asks if the idea of doctors opposing HCR concerns anyone. Then, a couple of fair minded but apparently poorly informed folks discuss their concerns about a dwindling medical profession and what it might mean? When I and someone else, who are a little better acquainted with political activist groups, point out that the AAPS is actually a front group for right wing activism, one which also seeks to end Medicare; it is WE who are accused of poisoning the discussion. “They’re still doctors! Doesn’t their professional opinion count? Why do you dismiss them just because they’re conservative?” Actually, most of them aren’t doctors and even those that are clearly have much higher political priorities than, say, the well being of their patients. But is there any point in my even saying these things?

Another exchange begins when someone posts a link about gun rights activists planning an armed march on Washington later this month. I notice a comment by someone from Tennessee who seems mystified by the controversy because he’s “never heard anyone say that Democrats might take away people’s guns.” This sounds innocent enough, right? Maybe he lives in a shack in the middle of nowhere, has never been exposed to mass communications of any kind, just bought himself a computer yesterday, logged on to Facebook right off the bat and started plugging away at political discussion. It’s possible, right? When I respond by saying that gun rights advocate groups and conservative Republicans have been using such scare tactics for many years, a fact which anyone, right or left, who pays nominal attention to politics will admit without hesitation, the original questioner demands that I offer proof to back up my statement.

After one 45 second Google search, I provide three separate links for him. The first being a 20 minute video of a CPAC (Conservative Political Action Committee) conference on the “current anti-gun rights climate in Washington”. (Who’s in charge in Washington right now?) Second, a FOX News report on a massive surge in firearms sales in the days leading up to President Obama’s Inauguration. And last but not least, a widely read blog post under the title, “First Obama wanted your guns and now he wants to prevent you from fishing”. My confused friend from Tennessee, rather than acknowledge that this was, indeed, a common theme in politics, responded in the following manner: first he said that he didn’t have the necessary software to watch the video link. Then he insisted that the second and third links were not satisfactory proof (in less educated terms than I use) and that I would have to provide him with physical proof that an official NRA spokesperson had ever said the exact words, “Democrats are going to take away your guns”. At this point, I belatedly understood that I was not engaged in an honest exchange and so I withdrew in order to preserve what was left of my sanity.

In my third example, it was I who was did the posting. I posted a photo of the first eight Hutaree Militia members (there was later a ninth) to be arrested recently for hatching an apocalyptic plot in Michigan. I then pointed out that the same Republicans and right wing media personalities who condemn African-American rappers for songs like “Cop Killer” and blame liberalism and even violent racial tendencies for such a musical expression of violence, astoundingly maintain deafening silence when an all white group of anti-government, religious extremists plan to actually kill police officers and then bomb their ensuing memorial services. I further pointed out that the right wing displays such silence on this kind of story because anti-government extremists and religious zealots make up a part of their political base, one which they are afraid to alienate. Was this post potentially inflammatory to Republicans? Yes. But it was something more also, it was the TRUTH! It wasn’t very long before a seemingly impartial fellow from Colorado read me the Coffee Party “riot act” about civility and accused me of “propaganda”. Really? I was just pointing out a glaring hypocrisy which anyone who’s been paying attention to the political give and take in this country for a while can confirm. I’m so sorry to have offended anyone.

The last straw came when, in frustration with all of the deliberate disinformation being allowed on this page, I posted an Amazon link to the book “The Republican Noise Machine” by David Brock. Brock is a former right wing attack-author (The Real Anita Hill) and Washington Times reporter who was rejected by his conservative patriarchs after writing what ultimately became a very fair biography of Hillary Clinton, too fair for the right wing and so they banished him. After recounting his unusual career twists in his tell all “Blinded by the Right”, he used “...Noise Machine” to detail the more than forty year history of activist right wing media in America. He explains, with a former insider’s understanding, its origins, patrons, its power to undermine democracy by misinforming the public and the equally crucial parallel strategy of denouncing mainstream media as “liberally biased”. Brock has since gone on to found Media Matters, a watchdog group which specializes in debunking false right wing reporting.

I offered the book as a way for liberals to understand just what they’re up against. An explanation of why their right wing counterparts seem to live in an alternate universe, one with a very different set of facts and a completely different narrative of world and American history. I closed my comment by observing that this right wing media movement was “the most organized effort to deliberately dis-inform a nation since Joseph Goebbels’ Third Reich Ministry of Information”. Now was that a little harsh? Maybe. Especially in light of how people get whenever you bring up the whole Nazi thing (See those right wing Obama/Hitler posters). As if I was somehow accusing them of genocide. Yes, it was harsh. But, once again, it was also TRUE! Not backing down on that, no sir. It took less than 90 seconds for my post to be removed. Dis-information is fine but information about dis-information, we can’t have that!


MORE TROUBLES

Look, I come from the James Carville School of Democratic politics. In June of 1992, a friend was reading to me from a New York Times article about, “this guy who’s running Clinton’s campaign”. Carville was quoted in that article as saying, “Your opponent can’t lie about you when he’s got your fist down his throat”. My friend and I both agreed that, after campaigns like those of Mondale and Dukakis, it was about damn time a Democrat was going to hit first and hit harder. I’ve never forgotten that quote and I never will. And that was from a time when Republicans were an awful lot less…well, awful. Back before the days of FOX News Channel, when Rush Limbaugh was much more unique in his right wing radio crusade, when congressional Republicans were offering a healthcare reform alternative to the Clinton reform package which looked eerily similar to the “socialist, government takeover of healthcare” just passed by Obama and Co. Long before anyone thought of holding these seemingly white-supremacist Tea Parties or demanding the president’s birth certificate (and then refusing to accept it when offered).

The point is that when you are engaged in political discourse with today’s right wing, you’d better be prepared for a serious battle. People are spitting on US Congressmen, calling them nigger and faggot. They’re carrying signs about watering “the tree of liberty” with “the blood of tyrants”. What do you suppose they mean by that? Just this week, a 70 year-old man deliberately smashed his truck into the rear end of another car because it sported an Obama/Biden bumper sticker. The second driver’s 10 year-old daughter was in the back of that car, by the way. And if you’re waiting for the current crop of Republican lawmakers to demand an end to this behavior, don’t go holding your breath. They’re too busy accusing Democrats of partisanship because they have the audacity to complain about it.

In taking a pacifist attitude into the current political arena, the Coffee Party may as well bring a feather to a knife fight. The results will be much the same. And the Facebook page is not the only area of disappointment which needs to be covered. The timid nature of the Coffee Party was also revealed during national conference calls, in which leaders of the movement talk directly with organizers from all over the country. The leaders who participated in these calls were obviously far more terrified that one of us would say something negative about the Tea Party than they seem to be about right wingers taking over their Facebook page. They offer little support for suggested concrete actions, even on a local level. Worse yet, when their national “media” people would send out a press release template, which local organizers can then modify for their own area, they were so filled with spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors that I spent more time correcting than personalizing them.


SOME SERIOUS SUGGESTIONS

If I’m going to complain (and I think its pretty clear that I am) then I’d better close by offering some helpful suggestions as well. So here’s a little message directed at Annabel, Eric and whoever else is left helping them put things together…..Get off of your **collective butts and do something big, visible and meaningful, now, while you’ve still got a fair amount of progressives left who will join you! Every time you’ve managed even a little national focus in the media, the hibernating left wing in this country has poured onto your website and Facebook page chomping at the bit to join in. There are untold millions out there who still don’t know you exist. Less than half the attention the Tea Party is getting would bring them all right to your doorstep. Find a way, quickly, before you lose traction altogether!

And if you seriously believe that you can alter the nature of American politics by asking a few right, left and center leaning folks to sit down together every so often in their local coffee shops, I’ve got this awesome bridge over in Brooklyn that I’ll sell you dirt cheap. Just don’t ask for the deed, my dog ate it. You’re never going to fix what’s wrong in America by some kind of political osmosis. You’re going to have to act and you’ll have to draw attention to what you’re doing along the way. You’ll need a more pragmatic and practical strategy as well. For all of their faults, the Tea Partiers already understand these basic principles. You’d better incorporate them too, and fast.

For example, if you truly want to bring honesty and civility back to our national conversation, you’re going to have to loosen the right wing’s stranglehold on our news media. Right now, 30% of rank and file Republicans believe that President Obama “could be the anti-Christ”. Two-thirds believe he is a “socialist” (US socialist party denunciations of this notwithstanding). There is a tremendous dis-information problem here. To change this, you have to push for re-regulation of media ownership and possibly the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine. Republicans will be of no use to you on this issue; it will be a partisan effort all the way. You can provide Democrats with the will necessary to make this happen by showing them how large a voting base you can deliver for them.

One more example; In order to change the corrupted political culture in Washington (and many state capitols as well) there must be a tremendous push for real campaign finance reform. This one can be a little more bipartisan in nature. I’d actually be surprised if many among the Tea Parties wouldn’t join you in pressuring congress to quickly find a way to overturn the recent Supreme Court ruling, in Citizens United. That’s only the first step though. Finding a way to make elected officials more accessible to all of their constituents while somehow constitutionally limiting the obscene amount of influence wielded by special interest money will be a fight for the ages. It may make healthcare reform look easy, by comparison. It must be done, however, in order to return our representative government to its rightful owners.

More immediately, none of this will ever happen if the Republican Party is rewarded at the ballot box for their heinous behavior in the 111th congress. Such a victory will only further empower the far right wing and embolden the Republicans to continue their partisan warfare with the president. You’re going to have to make fighting against potential GOP gains in November priority number one for the remainder of 2010. Are you afraid that someone’s going to call you an “Obama front group”? Guess what, they already have. So what? Let them say whatever they want. Never apologize for your beliefs. Stand up for what you believe in and the good people you’ve inspired to get involved will line up with you.

I don’t mean to pretend that I would automatically have all of the means or the practical knowledge necessary, if I were ever to accidentally spark a movement this large or with this much potential. What I can say for certain is that I would damn well make the most of it if I did. This opportunity is too precious; don’t let it get away from you. If its advice you need, find the best available. If money is the issue, go ahead and ask progressive people for it. Do you really think the Tea Party is funding all of its national and local activities from grassroots? Now that you’ve stumbled upon the power to shape the kind of change you’d like to see in America, do everything you have within you to lead us in that direction. I’m sure I’m not the only progressive who has become disenchanted lately. But we’re still out here watching and hoping you’ll come around.


Paul Roth, Jr.

PS – Tell your Facebook administrators to start doing something about all of the right wing propaganda. Enough is enough. “Honesty”, remember?

** - And stop using that word in all of your literature, you’re making it too damn easy for the far right.