Matt Collins
01-20-2009, 12:04 AM
An open letter to Mark Cross re: FL-CFL
Mark,
As the situation from the last few weeks has manifested itself to the point of potentially destroying the liberty movement in Florida, I have decided that I must seek your correspondence regarding this matter. Although I am not a legal resident of Florida, I do have a stake in the happenings of the Florida liberty movement / CFL for multiple reasons, the greatest of which is that I will likely reside in Florida again in the distant future.
I have been reading from all sides about the latest issue with the chairman race. I am sincerely disappointed that you were unable to win your seat as the chair of the Florida GOP. If you had been able to succeed it would’ve provided inspiration to all and a massive victory for Florida. As someone who is learning political strategies, tactics, and maneuvers myself, I can understand why you came to the decision that you did and followed the course of action that has ignited the current state of affairs.
My personal opinion about your choice of action is humble and irrelevant due to the fact that I am not a CFL-FL member, nor am I a resident of Florida. For the record however I agree that dropping out prior to the vote was a wise political move because it allowed for bridges to be built with other factions of the RPOF. However in my judgment, supporting Mr. Greer was a grievous error. Nevertheless after having met you in person and corresponding with you previously, I believe that you honestly considered your actions beneficial to the FL-CFL / liberty movement and no harm was intended by you.
Whatever my personal opinion may be regarding your actions, the opinions of your fellow Florida patriots do indeed matter a great deal whereas mine do not. Since you have been appointed into a leadership role in the FL-CFL as the interim state coordinator, many in the state expect certain actions of yours to align with their philosophy. Unfortunately the sad reality is that your actions apparently did not align with the philosophies of many in the Florida liberty movement / FL-CFL. In other words a great deal of respect was lost for you, and also your integrity among the State, whether I agree with their feelings towards you or not. As anyone who has studied leadership has learned that respect must be earned and not given. Once it has been taken away, it is very difficult to recoup.
Prior to proceeding forward, I want to make it abundantly clear that I do not have any personal grievances with you, but I do disagree with your course of action regarding your race for RPOF specifically the endorsement of Mr. Greer. As previously stated my opinion is irrelevant, however please understand that I am in no way attacking or attempting to undermine you, or even reprove. My goals are quite different which I will detail in the coming paragraphs.
An attempt to assign blame is foolhardy and contrary to progress. Between the CFL-HQ, the FL-CFL (including Mr. Egoroff), and you, attempting to determine who is “right” and who is “wrong” would be a waste of time. But the political reality is that you have a group of people with whom you are in a leadership role, and because the people do not respect you, you will be ineffectual and impotent as a leader. Many from Florida have told me in the past 24+ hours that they will be resigning their CFL membership if some specific recourse is not taken, especially in regards to the banning of Mr. Nick Egoroff.
Why am I taking the time to draft this letter you might ask?
Because my only intention is to keep the FL-CFL /Florida liberty movement from fracturing and crumbling due to this situation. My hopes are that negotiations can proceed and that compromises can be made. If this does not happen, my principal fear is that the liberty movement / CFL in Florida will die a very quick and regretful death. The greatest assets we as those who support liberty currently have are our dedication, our cohesiveness, our momentum, and our resolve. If the CFL-FL disintegrates in the wake of this then all will be lost, and we will be in the same position that we were prior to the Ron Paul campaign of ’08. That would be a tragedy of epic proportions, and the repercussions would be felt across the nation in hundreds of other Meetup groups and dozens of other CFL chapters.
Therefore if I were an advisor to you I would suggest the following course of action in order to keep the liberty movement / FL-CFL intact and functioning:
Step into a secondary position within the FL-CFL, but not remain as the state interim coordinator. Allow a neutral but competent person to instead fill your current role.
Lobby the CFL-HQ to reinstate the memberships of Mr. Nick Egoroff and the other fellow patriot who were quietly but abruptly banned from the organization.
Work to rebuild the respect and trust of fellow Floridians by…
Lending whatever help possible to the effort to convene a state-wide CFL convention. A progressive goal for the state will help everyone move past this current quagmire.
I personally believe that if the above criteria was attempted by you, and the CFL-HQ took steps towards the same ends, that we could salvage and even maintain the FL-CFL / liberty movement in Florida.
Again please realize I am not choosing sides, nor am I interested in the details of who is “right” and who is “wrong”. I only want to keep the FL-CFL / liberty movement together as one unified body. It has once been said “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Although I don’t think anything “evil” is happening, I do believe that I would be partly responsible for the collapse of the organization if I sat back and did nothing. Therefore I am pleading with and urging you (and the CFL-HQ) to make whatever negotiations necessary to keep the organization from imminent and what would be essentially decimation.
Please publicly correspond to this letter at the following location:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?p=1919685
This matter should be open to public discourse for a variety of reasons. A similar letter has been e-mailed /posted to the CFL here: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?p=1919686
I look forward to your response and the ability to move swiftly past this mired mess so that we can focus on other objectives in the dissemination of liberty.
In liberty with the greatest of hopes,
Matt Collins
Mark,
As the situation from the last few weeks has manifested itself to the point of potentially destroying the liberty movement in Florida, I have decided that I must seek your correspondence regarding this matter. Although I am not a legal resident of Florida, I do have a stake in the happenings of the Florida liberty movement / CFL for multiple reasons, the greatest of which is that I will likely reside in Florida again in the distant future.
I have been reading from all sides about the latest issue with the chairman race. I am sincerely disappointed that you were unable to win your seat as the chair of the Florida GOP. If you had been able to succeed it would’ve provided inspiration to all and a massive victory for Florida. As someone who is learning political strategies, tactics, and maneuvers myself, I can understand why you came to the decision that you did and followed the course of action that has ignited the current state of affairs.
My personal opinion about your choice of action is humble and irrelevant due to the fact that I am not a CFL-FL member, nor am I a resident of Florida. For the record however I agree that dropping out prior to the vote was a wise political move because it allowed for bridges to be built with other factions of the RPOF. However in my judgment, supporting Mr. Greer was a grievous error. Nevertheless after having met you in person and corresponding with you previously, I believe that you honestly considered your actions beneficial to the FL-CFL / liberty movement and no harm was intended by you.
Whatever my personal opinion may be regarding your actions, the opinions of your fellow Florida patriots do indeed matter a great deal whereas mine do not. Since you have been appointed into a leadership role in the FL-CFL as the interim state coordinator, many in the state expect certain actions of yours to align with their philosophy. Unfortunately the sad reality is that your actions apparently did not align with the philosophies of many in the Florida liberty movement / FL-CFL. In other words a great deal of respect was lost for you, and also your integrity among the State, whether I agree with their feelings towards you or not. As anyone who has studied leadership has learned that respect must be earned and not given. Once it has been taken away, it is very difficult to recoup.
Prior to proceeding forward, I want to make it abundantly clear that I do not have any personal grievances with you, but I do disagree with your course of action regarding your race for RPOF specifically the endorsement of Mr. Greer. As previously stated my opinion is irrelevant, however please understand that I am in no way attacking or attempting to undermine you, or even reprove. My goals are quite different which I will detail in the coming paragraphs.
An attempt to assign blame is foolhardy and contrary to progress. Between the CFL-HQ, the FL-CFL (including Mr. Egoroff), and you, attempting to determine who is “right” and who is “wrong” would be a waste of time. But the political reality is that you have a group of people with whom you are in a leadership role, and because the people do not respect you, you will be ineffectual and impotent as a leader. Many from Florida have told me in the past 24+ hours that they will be resigning their CFL membership if some specific recourse is not taken, especially in regards to the banning of Mr. Nick Egoroff.
Why am I taking the time to draft this letter you might ask?
Because my only intention is to keep the FL-CFL /Florida liberty movement from fracturing and crumbling due to this situation. My hopes are that negotiations can proceed and that compromises can be made. If this does not happen, my principal fear is that the liberty movement / CFL in Florida will die a very quick and regretful death. The greatest assets we as those who support liberty currently have are our dedication, our cohesiveness, our momentum, and our resolve. If the CFL-FL disintegrates in the wake of this then all will be lost, and we will be in the same position that we were prior to the Ron Paul campaign of ’08. That would be a tragedy of epic proportions, and the repercussions would be felt across the nation in hundreds of other Meetup groups and dozens of other CFL chapters.
Therefore if I were an advisor to you I would suggest the following course of action in order to keep the liberty movement / FL-CFL intact and functioning:
Step into a secondary position within the FL-CFL, but not remain as the state interim coordinator. Allow a neutral but competent person to instead fill your current role.
Lobby the CFL-HQ to reinstate the memberships of Mr. Nick Egoroff and the other fellow patriot who were quietly but abruptly banned from the organization.
Work to rebuild the respect and trust of fellow Floridians by…
Lending whatever help possible to the effort to convene a state-wide CFL convention. A progressive goal for the state will help everyone move past this current quagmire.
I personally believe that if the above criteria was attempted by you, and the CFL-HQ took steps towards the same ends, that we could salvage and even maintain the FL-CFL / liberty movement in Florida.
Again please realize I am not choosing sides, nor am I interested in the details of who is “right” and who is “wrong”. I only want to keep the FL-CFL / liberty movement together as one unified body. It has once been said “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Although I don’t think anything “evil” is happening, I do believe that I would be partly responsible for the collapse of the organization if I sat back and did nothing. Therefore I am pleading with and urging you (and the CFL-HQ) to make whatever negotiations necessary to keep the organization from imminent and what would be essentially decimation.
Please publicly correspond to this letter at the following location:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?p=1919685
This matter should be open to public discourse for a variety of reasons. A similar letter has been e-mailed /posted to the CFL here: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?p=1919686
I look forward to your response and the ability to move swiftly past this mired mess so that we can focus on other objectives in the dissemination of liberty.
In liberty with the greatest of hopes,
Matt Collins