| Seven years ago this month, a dozen or so people and I attended one of the earliest Meetups for a virtually unknown (at the time) Presidential candidate named Howard Dean at Cafe Eclectic in Montclair. Ours was one of about a dozen in the state and one of hundreds taking place throughout the country. The Dean for America campaign and Howard Dean's four years as DNC Chairman established the foundation and set the standard for the kind of progressive grassroots organizing that made it possible for President Barack Obama to defeat both Hillary Clinton and John McCain in the 2008 Presidential election.
However, since President Obama's November 2008 victory, the Tea Party movement, angry, anti-government regressives, have appeared to become the most prominent grassroots organizing force in the country, although it is debatable how truly grassroots they are since much of its vision and voice seems to be coming from right-wing, Republican lobbyists like former Congressman, Dick Armey.
To provide a more rational, reasonable, and thoughtful alternative to the Tea Partiers, a new, progressive grassroots effort, The Coffee Party Movement, will be returning to Cafe Eclectic and hundreds of other locations (see list of NJ locations below the fold) nationwide on Saturday, March 13 to start a conversation about the role that government can and must play in American society and how liberals, moderates, and conservatives can work together to create a consensus and advocate for it with their elected officials.
I would like to personally invite the leaders and members of the existing progressive grassroots organizations in New Jersey and the Blue Jersey community as a whole to join us on this day to share your experience, insight, and wisdom with many people who, like some of us seven years ago, are becoming politically active for the first time in their lives. I also believe that many of the participants would be very interested to learn more about Blue Jersey and what the progressive community of New Jersey in general is doing. |
| There are currently 16 Coffee Party locations in 16 (Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington/Camden, Cape May, Essex, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, and Union) counties. We still need coordinators and locations in 5 more (Cumberland, Hudson, Salem, Sussex, and Warren) counties.
If you are interested in coordinating a Coffee Party location in one of these counties or at a different location in one of the other counties, please contact me directly through my Facebook page or through the Coffee Party Movement in New Jersey's Facebook page.
Your time, consideration, and participation are greatly appreciated and I look forward to seeing you at the Coffee Party that I will be coordinating on Saturday, March 13 at 3:00pm at the Panera Bread near the Menlo Park Mall in Edison or at some other Coffee Party-related event in the future.
Atlantic County
12:00 pm to 2:00 pm
Borders Books
Wrangleboro Rd.
Mays Landing, NJ
Bergen County
12:00 pm to 2:00 pm
Panera Bread
165 E State Route 4
Paramus, NJ
Burlington/Camden Counties
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Panera Bread
48 Centerton Road
Mount Laurel, NJ
Cape May County
3:00pm - 5:00pm
Starbucks
Route 9 South
Rio Grande, NJ
Essex County - Montclair
12:00pm - 2:00pm
Cafe Eclectic
444 Bloomfield Avenue
Montclair, NJ
Essex County - Newark
12:00pm - 2:00pm
Java's Brewing
155 University Avenue
Newark, NJ
Gloucester County
12:00pm - 2:00pm
Barnes & Noble
1553 Almonesson Road
Deptford, NJ
Hunterdon County
1:00pm - 3:00pm
Marias
12 Race Street
Frenchtown, NJ
Mercer County
10:00am - 12:00pm
Princeton Public Library
65 Witherspoon St.
Princeton, NJ
Middlesex County
3:00pm - 5:00pm
Panera Bread
1551 US Highway 1 South
Edison, NJ
Monmouth County
12:00pm - 2:00pm
Neptune Public Library
25 Neptune Blvd.
Neptune, NJ
Morris County
3:00pm - 5:00pm
Atlanta Bread Company
1711 Route 10 East
Morris Plains, NJ
Ocean County (Southern Monmouth)
12:00pm - 2:00pm
Southard Grange Hall
4860 Route 9 South
Howell, NJ
Passaic County
4:00pm - 7:00pm
Cafe Latte
1241 Main Avenue
Clifton, NJ
Somerset County
1:00pm - 3:00pm
Panera Bread
300 Route 202 South
Raritan, NJ
Union County
10:00am - 12:00pm
Panera Bread
295 Route 22 East
Springfield, NJ |
