Loose Leaf Notes

~ The following was published in The Floyd Press newspaper on April 8, 2010.

Ten people attended a Coffee Party meeting at the Blue Ridge Restaurant in Floyd on a recent Saturday afternoon.  It was the second meeting since the group was formed on March 13.

The Coffee Party, which first took root on Facebook and currently has nearly 200,000 Facebook fans, is a national grassroots movement, not affiliated with any existing political party.  The mission statement on The Coffee Party website reads in part:  “We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges that we face as Americans.”

Patrick Fenn called the first Floyd meeting, which was attended by 18 people and coordinated with other meetings across the country.  Fenn explained his interest in forming a local group, “I wanted to get back to one person, one vote rather than government of the highest bidder.  I wanted to be part of the solution,” he said, adding that he felt it was unfortunate that those expressing the loudest vitriol get the most press coverage.

The meeting commenced as members gathered around a long table and sipped coffee or tea. Coffee Party guidelines for civil discourse and past meeting highlights were reviewed before the current agenda was laid out and the kitchen table democracy conversation ensued.   Fenn, a building tradesman, posed a question to the group, “If Congressman Boucher was here right now, what would you want to say to him?”

Jamie Reygle’s answer was in reference to Boucher’s vote against health care reform legislation. “I want to know, if this isn’t the right bill, what is, and what .and what are you doing about it?”

Reygle, a teacher, later posed his own question “How do we get people on the other side of the fence involved in the discussion?”  Someone agreed to see if there are any Tea Party groups in the area that might be interested in a possible meet-up to explore common ground.

Another topical question brought up at the meeting was ‘what can we do locally to improve the legislative process?’  “We can support candidates that are responsive to the people and are civil, those that represent the people rather than corporate interests,” someone at the table offered. Another participant expressed frustration at “being locked into a 2 party system and running interference.”

Central to The Coffee Party agenda is the goal of re-engaging government.  With that in mind, local groups across the country are planning delegations to meet with their representatives for a “Coffee with Congress” to share concerns and ideas.  Congressman Boucher, Senators Webb and Warner have been contacted by the Floyd group, which is working with other Virginia Coffee Party groups from Blacksburg, Roanoke, Martinsville, and Lexington.

At the end of the meeting, a photo was taken, bearing a sign identifying the group.  The photo will be linked up with others from around the country posted on the Coffee Party website at coffeepartyusa.com.  ~ Colleen Redman