It’s been all over the news that Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz will be hosting a virtual town hall meeting on September 6, 2011 at 4:30 p.m. PST.  You can RSVP for the event here:

http://nolabels.org/

In an email from Vivek Varma to corporate employees, he states that Starbucks expects the town hall will “spark conversation and lead to positive change amongst businesses, non profits, and government.  His [Howard Schultz’s] intention is to engage the country in  a dialogue about what can be done to revitalize our economy and build stronger communities.

If you’d like  to join the official  pledge, to hold elected officials accountable and halt campaign donations to incumbents, then click here for the upward spiral facebook page.

There is also a “Letter to Americans” from Howard that will run in the New York Times on September 4, 2011, and then again in the USA Today and New York Times on September 6, 2011.  The “Letter to Americans” was sent to numerous Starbucks customers in an email format.  I got that email too, so I’m sharing the “Letter to Americans” here:

September 2011

Dear Starbucks Friend and Fellow Citizen:

I love our country. And I am a beneficiary of the promise of America. But today, I am very concerned that at times I do not recognize the America that I love.

Like so many of you, I am deeply disappointed by the pervasive failure of leadership in Washington. And also like you, I am frustrated by our political leaders’ steadfast refusal to recognize that, for every day they perpetuate partisan conflict and put ideology over country, America and Americans suffer from the combined effects of paralysis and uncertainty. Americans can’t find jobs. Small businesses can’t get credit. And the fracturing of consumer confidence continues.

We are better than this.

Three weeks ago, I asked fellow business leaders to join me in urging the President and the Congress to put an end to partisan gridlock and, in its place, to set in motion an upward spiral of confidence. More than 100 business leaders representing American companies – large and small – joined me in signing a two-part pledge:

First, to withhold political campaign contributions until a transparent, comprehensive, bipartisan debt-and-deficit package is reached that honestly, and fairly, sets America on a path to long-term financial health and security. Second, to do all we can to break the cycle of economic uncertainty that grips our country by committing to accelerate investment in jobs and hiring.

In the weeks since then, I have been overwhelmed by the heartfelt stories of Americans from across the country, sharing their anguish over losing hope in the strongest and most galvanizing force of all – the American Dream. Some feel they have no voice. Others feel they no longer matter. And many feel they have been left behind.

We cannot let this stand.

Please join other concerned Americans and me on a national call-in conversation on Tuesday September 6th hosted by “No Labels,” a nonpartisan organization dedicated to fostering cooperative and more effective government. To learn more about the forum and the pledges, visit www.upwardspiral2011.org

America is at a fragile and critical moment in its history. We must restore hope in the American Dream. We must celebrate all that America stands for around the world. And while our Founding Fathers recognized the constructive value of political debate, we must send the message to today’s elected officials in a civil, respectful voice they hear and understand, that the time to put citizenship ahead of partisanship is now.

Yours is the voice that can help ignite the contagious upward spiral of confidence that our country desperately needs.

With great respect,

Last but not least, if you’d like  one more opportunity to join in a petition in support of Howard Schultz’s call to our leadership, there is a petition here – http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/join-starbucks-ceo-howard-schultz-end-political-campaign-contributions/

I RSVP’d for the town hall, and hope you will too!

~Melody Overton