Announcement: Results of membership drive and Taxpayers Take Action April 10th-18th

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From the Coffee Party Blog: Taxpayers Take Action — April 10 thru 18

Please join the Facebook group Taxpayers Take Action 2011 to participate in planning and strategy for April 10-18 events.

Wow. So, we're still kind of stunned by the flood of donations this week. Despite the website crashes we suffered, we ended up topping $128,000 in our month-long membership drive, with an incredible $75,000 raised since Monday afternoon. Apart from "wow," the primary words on our minds are "thank you." We don't know what else to say.

We want you to know that we realize that this expression of resilience and hope is not a reflection on us so much as it reflects the burgeoning sense of self-empowerment and the indomitable spirit of "people power" spurred by events in Northern Africa, in Wisconsin, and now around the U.S. (this photo by Johnny Crawford was taken Feb. 26 in Atlanta, GA.) Whether the oppressor is corporate/government collusion, a military dictactor, or a combination of the two, the People are beginning to realize that, if we pull together, we can challenge and defeat this formidable concentrations of wealth and power. Now that the long-term damage of "trickle-down" economics has come how to roost, we realize we have no other choice.

We have created this Facebook group to gather your input and ideas for nationally coordinated events from April 10 to April 18. Please share your ideas, inspiration, and expertise that will allow the Coffee Party to do its part in shifting the national narrative on fiscal responsibility in the interests of the American taxpayer.

We see the whole truth: deliberate policy decisions, including tax policy and regulatory policies led to the 2008 global economic crisis, the taxpayer-funded bailouts, and the resulting deficits at all levels of government. Any budget slashing or tax-raising we do in the wake of this calamity should be done with a fact-based awareness of recent history, and a determination not to repeat it.

Below are two ideas for April 10 - 18 that we've been discussing. We'd love for you to add to this list, or volunteer to help make these ideas come to fruition, by joining this Facebook group and/or by writing to us at Taxpayers@CoffeePartyUSA.com

1) Road Trip to Save America — Annabel Park and Eric Byler accompany several other Coffee Party volunteers on a road trip from Madison, Wisconsin to Washington DC from April 10 to 18 with tour stops including teach-ins, direct actions, and spectacle events.

2) Taxpayers Penny Graph — an interactive web tool that allows participants to "go to the score card," comparing the taxes paid (or not paid) by corporations to the taxes paid by We the People, and, comparing the way taxpayers would prefer to see their money spent compared to the ways in which our tax revenue is actually spent.

Please add to them.

By the time we log the membership donations sent to us by mail, we may well find that Coffee Party members contributed twice as much in single month than in all of 2010. That's a big deal. We deeply appreciate these expressions of trust and the hope, and we intend to do all in our power to live up to our and your expectations.

PS: Should American Taxpayers respond like our friends in the United Kingdom? Keep your eye on US Uncut.