This is the "chaser email" I wrote tonight after an email advertising our west coast radio show (about guns) got a lot of angry responses.  

Dear ______

We got a lot small firestorm of email retorts to Dan Aronson's email blast about the launch of his new radio show on the Coffee Party network.  I'd like to apologize if you read the email and were alarmed. It was about civil liberties and guns, and how the government wants to take both (see below). 

I honestly don't know where Dan is coming from on this one, but I'm about to find out when I join him on his radio show which starts in a few minutes at 7 pm Pacific Time. The call-in number is 646-929-2495.  You can just listen and then hit "1" if youw ant to speak. So....

I wrote back to everyone who replied, most of them rather angrily.  Here are a few of my replies:

Richard, thanks very much for writing.  The email came from Dan Aronson who is hosting his first radio show for us tonight.  He is a good guy.  You should call in and give him a piece of your mind, though!  (=  Thanks for responding with information rather than anger.  I've gotten a bunch of angry emails in the last few minutes.  Understandable, but it makes me appreciate your response all the more.

Edward, I understand completely, and I agree with you personally.  Thanks for the humorous email response.  I've gotten a bunch of angry ones in the last few minutes.  Dan is hosting his first radio show tonight, and, honestly I'm not sure what got into him.  I'm writing a lot of apologies, but at the same time I want the Coffee Party to be a place where people are welcome regardless of their views.  It's the only way to start a productive dialogue.  I really hope you call into the show and give Dan a piece of your mind.  He is a good guy, and it will make for great radio if you call.

I copied Dan on all of my replies and soon I began to fear that he was in a panic only an hour before his first radio show.  So I sent him this:

Dan, don't sweat it.  I hope you have a great show tonight.  Stuff like this gives us an opportunity for dialogue. 

And I really do belive that.  So, I hope you'll call in if you were offended by Dan's email and give him a chance to explain.  FYI, our radio shows invite between 10,000 and 15,000 people out of our 80,000 email list.  Some of the shows invite the entire list.  This email went out to 11,000.  We have  you divided up by states.  For instance, it is mostly west coast states that received this email.  If you'd like to be invited to all the shows, click here.

Republican Congressman Paul Ryan was rattled today on NBC Meet The Press when David Gregory showed the snippet from the President’s Inauguration speech, rebuking those that believe America is divided between makers and takers. David then showed a snippet where Ryan actually made the statement. Ryan visibly turned red and was immediately defensive implying the snippet was taken out of context.

Given that the 47% of “takers” include social security recipients and other important entitlements, Ryan was unable to identify specifically who he referred to as takers. If competent analysis is done on Ryan’s now third major budget proposal, he will likely lose all credibility and the reality of him simply being a Randian with no concern for the middle class, the takers, will become evident.

Paul Ryan went unchallenged when he articulated several categorical lies. He stated that it is proven fact that Keynesian economics was a failure. David Gregory allowed that lie to go unanswered when the fact is that the Great Depression ended with large deficit spending to build the World War II engine. That was Keynesian economics on steroids. The Reagan Recovery was built with tax cuts and spending increases that caused deficit spending. This is a backdoor Keynesian approach cloaked in tax cuts. Of course Bush’s approach failed because his policies allowed the pilfering of the middle class by rewarding a few, leaving the many with little disposable income necessary to grow an economy (the wealthy’ s marginal propensity to consume varies very little with tax rates and as such will not harm economic growth).

Originally published in April 2011

by Annabel Park & Eric Byler

Irresponsible news entertainment, and the confusion, hatred, and alienation it generates, have the effect of preserving the status quo.

So long as We the People are mesmerized by false controversies and manipulated by partisan bickering, we will be unable to confront the real challenges we face: our two unfunded wars, our millions of homes facing foreclosure, and our gridlocked Congress corrupted by money.

Endless streams of celebrity gossip and divisive political theater presented as "news" serve no one, except for a small, powerful collusion of interests that prefer to see Americans actively despise one another while ignoring what truly divides us: money and power.

Two Economies

There is only one America; but there are two American economies. 

Wall Street’s economy has already recovered from the financial collapse of 2008.  Thanks to taxpayer-funded bailouts, Wall Street’s major players have been rewarded handsomely for causing the Great Recession, and are again enjoying record profits and record bonuses. 

But Main Street’s economy has not recovered.  Too many of us are unemployed or under-employed.  Our quality of life has declined as our incomes have stagnated.  One out of four children lives below the poverty line.  And our parents and grandparents are being told they might not receive benefits from insurance programs they paid into all their lives.

We also have two political classes in America. There are the multi-national corporations and the wealthy few who can afford to hire K Street lobbyists and make large campaign contributions.  And, there are everyday Americans who cannot.

Wall Street corporations and the wealthy elite lobby Congress for policies that benefit them financially while the basic needs of We the People go unanswered, drowned out by money and power.  Thus, we have a circular, self-reinforcing problem. Money is converted into political power.  Political power is converted into policy.  Policy is converted into more money.  That money is converted into more political power.  And so on, and so on. 

Information Activism

If we look behind the curtain of manufactured culture wars and circus acts on cable news, what we see is plain, old-fashioned corruption trying to hide itself.  Our job is to drag this corruption into the light.  We must force our Congress to confront abuses of power, rather than facilitating them.  

How will we do this?

• By becoming producers of content, rather than just consumers.
• By becoming spreaders of information, rather than just recipients.
• By flexing our muscles as voters, as consumers, and as active citizens.

The good news is we've already begun.  Although few of us can reach millions of people like cable news channels and broadcasting networks can, our interlocking spheres of influence — powered by social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube — are growing every day.  More and more of us are learning to use these tools and others like them.  We are realizing our power, and we accepting the civic duty that comes with it.

Thanks to the democratization of media, We the People have the power to break this corrupt cycle.  We will do this by becoming Information Activists — by rivaling corporate media with people-powered media, by replacing scripted and over-produced political theater with accurate information and sustained civic engagement, and by claiming our rightful place in the process of self-governance.  

_____________________

MORE on this subject.

CLICK HERE to write a letter to President Obama, based on the letter below — a summary of sentiments we collected from Coffee Party Radio and social media outlets.

The streamers are down and the bleachers are empty. Cold settles over the nation’s capital as, all along the mall, city workers repair and restore the battered landscape, collecting the detritus of more than half-a-million inauguration attendees. Meanwhile, the steps of the Capitol return to purpose, where they serve as the entryway to our government.

The second term begins, and it’s time to get back to work…

The last four years have seen many changes, but perhaps the most seismic has been the shift in how voices are heard. We at the Coffee Party USA—a true grassroots movement—are just one of those providing a platform for all those voices, and recently we invited both visitors to our Facebook page and callers to The Middle Ground radio show to offer their advice regarding where you should focus your second-term efforts. Here are a few of the things our callers had to say:

• Grow the middle class. Remind everyone that the middle class drives everything in this country—including not just economic growth, but business wealth as well. Fight for everyone to have a living wage.
  
  
• Defend our nation in ways more broad than conventional definition. Strive to make educators valued and our educational system the envy of the world. Preserve the health and dignity of veterans who have served this country proudly but now find themselves too often abandoned. Protect our civil rights and our Bill of Rights by re-establishing the inviolability of privacy and due process.

On Monday, January 21, 2013, President Obama articulated a clear version of the Story of America. Arguably, it is a brilliant articulation of the American social contract. It seems to me that much of the philosophical and historical parts could have been said by many of our past presidents. I was also surprised and delighted to hear him respond to a version of America once articulated Ronald Reagan in his first inaugural speech. 

In some ways, there is a stark contrast between the America that Reagan envisioned and the America Obama envisions especially in regard to the role of government. In his first inaugural speech, Reagan famously said, "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem."

On Monday, President Obama said, "Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation, and one people.

I do think Obama was responding to Reagan's vision, but not to tell Reagan that he was wrong, but to tell some of his Republican disciples of today who use Reagan's words and legacy that this version of America has become outdated — it just doesn't fit the times. 

I personally don't think Reagan and Obama's visions are so wide apart. There are many things that Reagan and Obama's stories of America have in common.

Both versions are optimistic and assert the belief that America will meet the challenges of our time by acting now and together. These lines appear to be interchangeable to me: 

Obama: My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment and we will seize it, so long as we seize it together.

Reagan:  It does require, however, our best effort, and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds; to believe that together, with God's help, we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.

Obama: It does not mean we all define liberty in exactly the same way or follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time, but it does require us to act in our time.

Reagan: We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow.

Obama:  We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together. 

Reagan: All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.

Both Reagan and Obama quote Lincoln's famous phrase from the Gettysburg address, "government of the people, by the people, for the people."

Obama: The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few, or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a republic, a government of, and by, and for the people. 

Reagan: From time to time, we have been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people.

This is where there is real agreement between Reagan and Obama and perhaps among most Americans. In theory, we reject a government of, by, for the elite few. The problem is that governments tend to attract people who want personal power and forget that they are pledged to serve a government of, by, for the people. 

Starting in 1981, Reagan was trying to do a course correction responding to what he and many considered to be a bureaucratic government run by a political elite class that had become out of touch with the people. Starting in 2009, Obama has been doing a course correction on a government that favored the financial elite and had become out of touch with the needs of the people going through a financial crisis.

If Reagan were alive today, I believe he would have responded negatively to the extremism of the anti-federalists of our time (people like Grover Norquist, Eric Cantor, Rand Paul and Paul Ryan). We can't function when we hate the federal government so much that we want to break its power by defunding it. 

It seems to me that we would do well as Americans by focusing on fighting elitism, not fighting the very idea of a federal government and working to starve and drown it. If the federal government breaks, so does the government of, by, for the people, the very one that Lincoln said "shall not perish from the earth."

THE MIDDLE GROUND
with Michael Charney and guest host Annabel Park
8 pm to 9 pm ET Tuesdays
on Coffee Party Radio
Call (646) 929-2495 and hit "1" to add your voice.

Annabel Park will be stepping in for me tonight, and I'll be listening mostly, because I've lost my voice after filming all day in the cold at inauguration.  Hope to hear from you tonight.

Eric Byler
Coffee Party USA

PS: We are 100 percent people-powered by small contributions and membership dues. That's why we are free to follow the truth where ever it leads us. No oil barons, no partisan operatives, no casino moguls. We're proud of the fact that our average donation is less than $30. Please become a member, and/or help us along when you can.

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3 New Directors Elected, 1 Incumbent Reelected

Members of the transpartisan advocacy group Coffee Party USA have elected four representatives to their Board of Directors. Justin Brown, John Cashon, DeLann Williams will attend their first meeting on Jan. 30, 2013. Egberto Willies became the first Coffee Party Director to be elected to a second term.

Justin Brown of Chicago, IL has been serving on the Coffee Party Internet Infrastructure Work Group since June of 2012. Now, Coffee Party members have elected him to head that group, succeeding Christopher Ritter of Dayton, OH. "I was motivated to step up to the challenge because I believe strongly in the principles of the Coffee Party and see a real opportunity to leverage the next wave of social, organizing, and collaborative technologies that were not available just a few years ago."

John Cashon, of Paducah, Kentucky was elected as the Coffee Party's Secretary, replacing Jeanene Louden of Corvallis, OR who now moves over Treasurer. John is an active member of the Coffee Party "Editorial Board," an unofficial team of radio hosts, social media volunteers, and Board Directors that meets every other Monday via phone conference to coordinate coverage of current events. As a historian, Cashon was motivated to run for the Board of Directors by misinformation used as electioneering during the 2012 presidential campaign.  "I noticed that facts and history were being distorted beyond all recognition and the history teacher in me could not let this pass without attempting to correct this misinformation," he said. "I wanted to step up to this challenge because I believe the Coffee Party has the ability to draw in citizens from all the parties with understanding and inclusiveness, and I believe I have the abilities to help further this cause."

DelAnn Williams, of Champaign-Urbana, IL, was elected to succeed Frank Kirkwood of Pittsburgh, PA as the "Pathways to Participation" Director, which oversees volunteer recruitment. She brings decades of experience as a communication specialist, a trainer, an organizer and activist, a group facilitator, an educator, and public campaign designer to the Board. "I hope that my background and skill set will help the Coffee Party move forward in meeting its mission, achieving its goals, coordinating its growing membership, and bringing the organization's values and commitments to greater national awareness," she said.  

This weekend is Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday and the anniversary of the Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court decree allowing unlimited, anonymous spending to influence our elections.

Demand “Money Out, Voters In!”
CLICK HERE to find an event near you.

Voter suppression and the corrupting influence of money in politics are the only way that narrow special interests can undermine our democracy. They are both desperation measures to reverse our quest to become a more perfect union. Let's honor MLK Day, and demand the right for all citizens to vote without obstruction. Let's call upon Congress to get big money out of politics and enact free and fair elections.

Join us to unite two powerful messages calling for a more just and democratic nation.

Can’t find an event nearby? Add your voice by posting photo to flickr of you holding a sign, and tag it with “Money Out Voters In." (You can also email the photo to info@coffeepartyusa.com).

There are 32 Partnering organizations involved in these actions:

350.org - African American Ministers in Action - Campaign for America's Future - Center for Media & Democracy- Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) - Coffee Party - Common Cause - Communications Workers of America - Consumer Action - CREDO Action – Demos - Free Speech for People - Friends of the Earth - Franciscan Action Network - Global Exchange - Hip Hop Caucus - League of United Latin American Citizens - Move to Amend - MoveOn - NAACP - National People's Action - National Women's Health Network - Oil Change International - Organic Consumers Association - People for the American Way - Public Citizen – Rootstrikers - Stamp Stampede - Sierra Club - Story of Stuff - U.S. PIRG – United for a Fair Economy - United Republic/Represent.Us

We hope you will participate. CLICK HERE to find an event near you.

Equality, Schmality.  What’s the Fuss?

Do we still need the ERA?  On a personal note, I (Jeanene) am a child of the civil rights movement, forever grateful for Dr. King and his commitment to human dignity, which begins with the recognition of our equality. Today, the women’s movement would have Dr. King at the front of the march.

The Equal Rights Amendment

• Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.
• Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
• Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

So, what’s the holdup?  This seems so common sense, why isn’t it part of the constitution?

Some people think there are precedent laws that have taken the place of doing what the ERA set out to do.

Other people disagree, saying if laws discriminating against women were passed, the courts would uphold the law (of discrimination).

Join the conversation today with special guests Tammy Simkins with ERA Now, Roberta Frances, Co-Chair of the ERA Task Force and Sandy Oestreich, founder-president of National Equal Rights Amendment Alliance Inc, and ERA Education Inc. Rumor has it there will be more movers and shakers from the Equal Rights Amendment movement. We hope that includes you. 

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

Call in at 646-929-2495
Or click HERE to listen live or podcast later

Coffee Party ON!
Jeanene and Debilyn

info@coffeepartyusa.com
OR contact us on Facebook!