Coffee Party USA Newsletter

May 8th, 2015

Volume 15, Number 7

Radio Shows Schedules

• Lunch with Louden with Jeanene Louden more
  
• Politics Done Right with Egberto Willies more
  
• I take Liberty with my Coffee with Bobby Rodrigo more
  
• The Tim Danahey Show more
  

President's Column - 2015 Newsletter

by Debilyn Molineaux, Coffee Party USA President

Sadness, Grief and Anger--From Selma to Ferguson to Baltimore

As I write this today, I am watching what is happening in Baltimore as reactions to a death by an unarmed man in police custody has led to violence. I grieve for our loss of community -- or the potential of community -- as we retraumatize each other, over and over again. I'm angry that my "it's not my problem" attitude has contributed to today's violence.

I'm privileged to have grown up in a world where my contributions are wanted, valued and needed. What if I had grown up in poverty, without one or both parents, where violence was part of everyday life, mental illness was untreated and addiction just a way to cope? What if I had grown up in a community where justice was fleeting or missing? Making a contribution to others would be not just more challenging, but perhaps impossible. [more]

A message to our members

 by Tim Danahey, Coffee Party USA Director of Public and Member Relations

Can Civility Survive the 2016 Elections?

The 2016 campaign season has already begun and the first casualties may be civility and dialogue.  The New York Times reported the process of “unfollowing”, “unfriending”, and “hiding” posts on Facebook is underway as polarized friends, family, and associates cannot tolerate the attacks on each other's beliefs and opinions.

The Times reported how a Hillary Clinton supporter in Texas “lost touch with many great friends of mine due to social media providing a platform for political discussion”.  She simply said, “If I see somebody that is just so hateful, then of course I'm going to unfollow them.” [more]

CALL TO ACTION

 by Jeanene Louden, Coffee Party USA Director & Treasurer

 Democracy for All Amendment

THE JOB NOW is to help secure additional cosponsors for S.J. Res 5 and H.J. Res 22, the Senate and House versions of the Democracy for All Amendment.

With 41 supporters in the Senate and 102 in the House we have a good start, but need to do some more work. Coffee Party USA will be joining People For the American Way, Public Citizen, Free Speech For People, Common Cause, US PIRG and many others  in mounting a multi-pronged campaign to boost the House and Senate co-sponsorship of the amendment.

We’re hoping that you'll be able to pitch in and help us show how broad the support is for the Democracy for All Amendment. [more]

TPP - Good or Bad?

Have you heard about the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)?  Most folks who know about the agreement have some pretty strong feelings about it one way or the other!

The Obama Administration says that this trade agreement “will boost U.S. economic growth, support American jobs, and grow Made-in-America exports to some of the most dynamic and fastest growing countries in the world.” The agreement appears to have much support in both parties. Yet critics are complaining about the secrecy around both the negotiations and terms of the agreement as well as expressing concerns that the TPP will ultimately hurt American workers. What do you think? [more]

Help Coffee Party USA accomplish our collective goals.

2015 is turning out to be a banner year for Coffee Party USA. We are growing our membership. We are teaming up with other organizations to promote good government by holding politicians accountable.

This year we have increased our reach by several million per week. This affords us a very large base to get our message out. It provides us the type of access necessary to a segment of the population when mobilization is in order. We played our part in the Net Neutrality movement both with original writing from our bloggers as well as through teaming up with other organizations to promote petitions. And guess what. We won.

There will be many other actions specific and transpartisan. Join our (your) movement. Together we will change America. But it starts with you.  [more]

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Articles

Sex, Drugs and Poverty in Red and Blue America

New York Times | by Thomas B. Edsall

If conservatives place responsibility on liberal Democrats, feminism and the abandonment of traditional family values for Baltimore’s decay, what role did the 249 churches in and around Muskogee play in that city’s troubles?

The fact is that the poor and working classes of both races were not well equipped to adjust to changes in behavior driven by the sexual revolution and the second demographic transition – a collection of forces that are inexorably changing the family, marriage patterns and child rearing worldwide

Those who seek to exploit the transformation of reproductive norms for short-term political gain are tearing at the social fabric. The right willfully ignores the benefits, and the left willfully ignores the costs, of what is, for better or worse, a world of radically diminished moral constraint. It may be asking too much of the political process to resolve conflicts like these. [more]