The real theft in our country is not being perpetrated by the people, but by those using the tool of government to suppress the people's self governance economically. With the DOW closing at an all-time high today, I wanted to address the errors that WE THE PEOPLE have failed to address and propose that we Coffee Partiers take some actions to rectify these errors.

Annabel and I have been filming in Selma, Alabama documenting the Bridge Crossing Jubilee held every year to commemorate the 1965 march for voting rights across Edmund Pettus Bridge and the violent treatment of the marchers by the police, referred to as Bloody Sunday.

THE MIDDLE GROUND
with Michael Charney & Eric Byler
Tuesdays at 8 pm ET (5 pm PT)
CLICK HERE to listen live, or to archived recording
Call (646) 929-2495 to listen and/or add your voice

This year is especially meaningful because the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is being challenged before the US Supreme Court. In Shelby County v. Holder, an Alabama county just north of Selma is challenging a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, Section 5, which requires 9 southern states and other districts with a history of voter suppression to get a pre-clearance from the Department of Justice for any changes in the voting laws. 

Many civil rights lawyers and leaders believe that if Section 5 is struck down that it would leave many voters vulnerable to discriminatory laws. 

It is interesting that the justices of the Supreme Court are making empirical claims about our nation such as the: South has changed; the South is not more racist than the rest of the country. 

Do the American People want a balanced approach to debt reduction or across-the-board cuts to programs without any thought to the consequences?

This is the question I have been asking myself since this whole sequester thing began, and I am appalled at what Congress is NOT doing.

Great to meet you. My name is Cameron and I am the Director of Development at Coffee Party USA. We need to talk about the sequester and what the Coffee Party is doing to end this cycle of dysfunction.

Let’s get some facts straight. Isn’t Congress supposed to be representative of OUR wants and needs? I’m sure your answer is YES, so why are Leaders in the House and Senate KOWTOWING to the interests of BIG MONEY LOBBYISTS and MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS?

Why are we in a contest with these organizations for the ATTENTION of OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS? We know Congress is torn between the interests of their Campaign Donors and their Constituents; but do we have to accept this as common practice?

We need the resources to fight this fight. I know the capability of our collective will is incredible! Can you imagine if every person in the Coffee Party gave just $5 a month towards this goal? That is $27,000,000 dollars a year! We could use that money to put you on TV to tell it like you see it, the way the corporatists do!

Ask yourself: Will Congress answer to us or will they continue to answer to their campaign contributors?

It’s common sense that what works is our OWN self-governance. Why else would our nation’s founders give US the power? Does it scare you that we no longer have real self-governance? Think about it, we vote someone into office and what happens? Their campaign donors end up writing the laws. THIS IS NOT WHAT OUR FOUNDERS ENVISIONED!

Listen Cameron, we CAN collectively fix this, with innovative efforts from all of us and together we can do it. In 2014 I would love to send you another email saying, "This year we will finally have the representative government that we knew we could elect!

Let me tell you that this type of funding will also make the Coffee Party Movement a very formative force in the 2014 election: Think about it! We can stop this type of brinksmanship governance and highlight publicly what really matters to you!

The corporatists have Billions of dollars on their side, but they are a very small minority! We have Millions of people, and while money might be able to buy our elected officials, it cannot buy them all. No wonder there is an attack on our voting rights!

If you are REALLY SICK AND TIRED of watching crisis after crisis come to a head then help us force a change in government!  (This is the first of four anticipated crises this year.)

I know I am asking a HUGE FAVOR here but a little bit per month to amplify the voice of the people goes a long way and it exponentially accelerates the process to reclaiming our self-governance. It is only $5 a month, less than a sandwich and it helps us bring direct pressure upon our wavering elected officials.

Lets make it OUR mission, OUR goal, and OUR job to increase OUR Congresses awareness of OUR wants, OUR needs and OUR desires. Lets amplify OUR collective voice so that finally, WE the American people, force the ears of those we elect to represent us, to hear us.

Please Follow this link now, and supply us with the collective resources to do the work necessary to help us all secure "The People's Seat" at the Governing Table.

Graciously,
Cameron Michaels
Director of Development
www.Coffeepartyusa.com
US Army Veteran
2000 - 2008

Is there any real explanation to the cavalier gamesmanship in Washington DC that has our domestic economy reduced to a house of cards? 

As I watch the chaotic Season Three of the post-2010 mini-series “Economic Tragedy R Us” I am shocked that the only explanation I can come up with to explain this madness comes from my experience with addiction. (Season One: Debt Ceiling Crisis, Season Two: Expiring Tax Cut Hostage Crisis, Season Three: The Sequester Crisis) 

Whether family, friends or ourselves, those of us that know addiction “up close and personal” know how dependence, (to alcohol, to drugs, to gambling, to anything) can grow to the point that no collateral damage (loss of family, job, or even life) is consequence enough to empower our beloved to change their ways.

I have learned the hard way that if we love those trapped inside addiction we have to stop enabling their habit. We have to help them step away from their drug of choice. An intervention is in order.  

Join us today to talk about the politics, the path and your participation.  

LUNCH WITH LOUDEN
Every Thursday at
noon Pacific (3 pm ET)

Call in at 646-929-2495
Listen LIVE or LATER.

Today’s LUNCH WITH LOUDEN is Part Two of our conversation about our fragile economy. Will Congress "Cure the disease and kill the patient." (Francis Bacon) with its action or inaction this week? With only nine hours to go at showtime, is there anything we (the people) can do to intervene? 

If you believe as I do that the addiction that is crippling the American we seek is the $Billions of campaign cash that now drives the daily lives of everyone in Washington DC, the long term solution is to restore publicly financed campaigns. I hope to talk about what that intervention might look like on today’s show.

And what about today and every day? We will talk about what intervention can look like in the next nine hours, as well as in the next days and weeks as the mini-series unfolds.

Coffee Party ON!
Jeanene and Debilyn

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone,

"it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."

"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - - that's all."

--Through the Looking Glass

Join us tonight on THE MIDDLE GROUND as Eric Byler and Michael Charney discuss the sequester. On the one hand, I'm pretty sure you're all getting sick of this topic, but on the other hand, it’s just too damn important not to talk about!

Here are my thoughts, and please call in tonight: 646-929-2495 8pm EST, 5pm PST

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It’s sequester time again, that often-visited period in recent history when 536 people have nothing better to do than sit around all day manufacturing a crisis we don’t need or want, and where the only thing we can be sure of is that the words they use will mean whatever they want them to mean.

So what exactly will happen, anyway, should this sequester actually occur? That depends, apparently, on whom you choose to believe. This article, "Sequestration Puts 2.14 Million Total Jobs at Risk,” promises that, according to Dr. Stephen S. Fuller, Dwight Schar Faculty Chair and University Professor and Director for Regional Analysis at George Mason University, the “results are bleak, but clear cut.”

“The unemployment rate will climb above 9 percent, pushing the economy toward recession and reducing projected growth in 2013 by two-thirds.  An already weak economy will be undercut as the paychecks of thousands of workers across the economy will be affected from teachers, nurses, construction workers to key federal employees such as border patrol and FBI agents, food inspectors and others.”

Listen in live starting at 10PM EST / 7PM PST, or call in to voice your opinion. And when you do, remember to Press [1] for Democracy.

Given today's divisive political rhetoric and the 1% media's penitent for amplifying and spreading it, has the Coffee Party set its sights on an unreachable objective?

Tonight, Debilyn Molineaux steps out of her co-host roll and into the interview spotlight to share the story of her run for the Fresno County Board of Supervisors and how she was able to avoid the pitfalls of "politics as usual" and instead infuse transpartisanship and civility into her campaign. She will then share her experience of working with Reuniting America / The Transpartisan Center and their national leadership retreats which led to changes in the national dialog and strange bedfellows for a time.

Join host Dan Aronson as he invites callers and chat room participants to share their ideas of how Coffee Party principles can positively transform politics in America or tell us why it can't be done (hint: transpartisanship means that we welcome discussion of both viewpoints).  

We all want a civil society, but what does civility actually mean when describing today’s bombastic rhetoric to each other.

No matter which side, liberal or conservative, one can easily find comments on the internet that show no desire to find common ground, and remaining cordial is a useless exercise to some.

We have all seen it.

There is so much anger today, and finding ways to extinguish that fire can seem to be a daunting task for anyone that believes that we will have to find ways to work together, to move forward.

Do we really know what the numbers are?  What does a trillion dollars mean? And with all the economic models available for forecasting the future, how do we know we are using the right one? Can we change models to have a better outlook?  Could we all agree to use the same one and then “make it so?”

Are you worried about the threat of sequestration?  It was introduced as a compromise during the debt crisis in 2011.  There is very little to gain for anyone politically today.  Or is there?

Across the country, people are worried about the national debt and the tax burden it will place on their children and grandchildren.  Others worry about being able to pay their mortgage, rent or medical expenses later this year as budget cuts are threatened for social services and austerity looms.  It’s a dance between survival today and prosperity tomorrow...or so it seems.

Today, we’ll start a conversation about the economy, austerity, the sequester and continue on to next week--because this is a big topic.  We need time to let thoughts settle, do some research and flesh this topic out fully.  Join us with guest Mattea Kramer of National Priorities Project today as we talk numbers. 

Debilyn Molineaux hosts today with Michael Charney co-hosting.  

LUNCH WITH LOUDEN
Every Thursday at noon Pacific (3 pm ET)

Listen to ARCHIVED RECORDING.

Coffee Party ON!
Jeanene and Debilyn

Annabel Park recently joined us on The Middle Ground to talk about a new video in which she interviews a TEA Party leader in North Carolina.

THE MIDDLE GROUND with Michael Charney & Eric Byler
Tuesdays at 8 pm ET (5 pm PT)
CLICK HERE to listen to archived recording

Press [1] For Democracy

Does Your Representative Work for YOU?
Mondays at 10 p.m. Eastern
Listen online here live or later.

"Despite a deeply held belief in Washington that Congress reflects the views of the people, most Americans don’t share that sentiment.  The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 11% of Adults believe Congress is a good reflection of the views of the American people. Seventy-four percent (74%) say Congress is not a good reflection of those views, while another 15% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)"  Rasmussen reported yesterday, February 17, 2013.

Just two months after seating the 113th Congress and they are already totally out of touch with their constituents.  How is this either mathematically or statistically possible?  And more importantly, how can we, The People redirect/repurpose our representatives to get them to do what we want them too?

Listen in live starting at 10PM EST / 7PM PST, or call in to voice your opinion. And when you do, remember to Press [1] for Democracy.

Thanks,
Dan Aronson

PS. Please support citizen engagement and become a Coffee Party member.  Thanks!