Tea Party not your cup of, er, tea? The founders of a new organization dedicated to more civil political discourse have declared this Saturday "Coffee Party Day." Lots of New Yorkers are on board, says the Albany Project.
New York is playing its part in about a dozen fledgling organizations that will meet in the afternoon of Saturday, March 13, 2010. From Downstate to Upstate, the Empire State is set to become one of the hot spots of the movement to cool down the rhetoric so we can once again speak to our common goals as Americans.
Here's Coffee Party founder Annabel Park, talking about the organization's goals in a reader Q&A on the Washington Post:
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.
Not to be left out, New York libertarians are organizing a Soda Party in Albany to protest the proposed "sugar tax."
Redlich told LR that other groups are already signing up like 9/12, 1776, and the Campaign for Liberty. It looks like the rally will be scheduled for Saturday, April 17 (right after Tax Day), at the Capitol in Albany. They are considering the use of a replica of the State Capitol to dump the soda on, right on the steps of the real Capitol. Obviously, environmental restrictions and good manners keep them from dumping the soda on the premises itself.
Gawker has a list of six other beverage parties that should exist (and no doubt soon will), including the "Long Island Iced Tea Party" and the "Whiskey Party."
