Posted by Durden on 08/18/09
Last updated 08/18/09

Yesterday morning I got word that a last minute town hall meeting had been called by Alan Grayson on health care at a local Union Hall. Sasha and I having just moved to Grayson's district, decided to go down and check it out, maybe ask a good question or two, but most importantly mingle and talk with people in the hopes that we could spread a little common sense.

The meeting was scheduled for 7:45. The earliest we could make it was about 6:40ish. By this time the place was packed and the line was off the property and down the street. Lots of signs on both sides of the street for and against the proposed reforms. I saw Obama signs, Gadsden flags, anti-bush signs, fair-tax signs, and legalize Marianna signs. It pretty much ran the gamut as far as opinions went.

We got in line hoping that we still might be able to get into the Hall for the meeting, but my hopes were quickly dashed as I started talking to some of the people around me. One very opinionated woman behind me informed me that she had worked on Grayson's campaign, but after following the trail of money from the health care lobbyists, she had become very disheartened and skeptical of Grayson's health care vote and was there seeking answers. However she informed me that this whole thing was a setup, because there were only 125 seats in the union hall and there were easily 1500 people in line, not to mention it's pretty clear union members would be getting in first.

At one point a representative came out and talked to the people in line announcing they would be checking id's later down in the line and if you lived in the congressman's district, you would go into one line, and if not, you would go into another line. It seemed unlikely in any case that many people would get in, given the limited seating, but we decided to stick around to see what happen. I kinda felt bad for the guy, for he was bombarded with rapid fire questions and shouts from the angry crowd, and he quickly made his exit.

I struck up a conversation with a very nice older african-american gentleman behind me and we talked for quite a while. He was a former engineering professor and was pro-health care reform. I tried to make several points about how this would be paid for and what the future looked like if this was likely to pass and he waved it off saying "that's just the small stuff, you should worry about you." I continued the conversation with him, but I don't' think he was really hearing what I was saying after a while. That was about the only amicable conversation I held the entire night.

At one point a woman behind the older gentleman stepped up after I said something about government health care not being the best answer and she very forcefully informed me that the greedy insurance companies were the root of the cause of our issues. I stayed very calm and said that no, I think government intervention into the health care industry caused these problems. At this point she became visibly furious and yelled, "STOP USING THOSE WORDS", and turned around actually shaking and stomping her feet. It seemed to be a good time to end that conversation, so I stepped a few feet away.

I went back to observing and listening for a while. I even saw several people escorted away by the cops, but I never heard why or what they had done to deserve that. It seemed most people fell into one of two camps. On the one hand there were the pro-health care/obama people who believe that capitalism and greedy corporate insurance/pharmaceutical companies had caused prices to rise and were holding us hostage. The opposition to the health care reform, with the exception of a few, believed that government health care was wrong but seemed unable to form a coherent argument against it other than saying they didn't want to be socialists.

As the line moved along we moved closer to the main ruckus along the street where most of the signs and chanters were located(yes we can!). There was a rather large man in that crowd holding a big white Gadsden flag. When we got closer to him, a woman behind me, who I believe I heard was a neighbor of the older gentleman, stepped out of line towards him and began yelling at him that he had voted for Bush and that he was a fascist. Much to my dismay the man turned around to her and start yelling even louder back that he was not a bush supporter, he voted for Ron Paul. Unfortunately he was a very large man, and was quite loud, which gave him the appearance of being quite angry and aggressive. This was obviously not productive or conducive to turning the tide of opinion of the hoards of Obama supporters surrounding him(/facepalm). While I applaud him for having the guts to stand there with a Gadsden flag, it just didn't win anyone over or help matters to turn around and yell at her like that.

After that encounter I heard the woman talking with the gentleman about how that was the same symbol that Timothy McVeigh had carried and the man with the gun from the New Hampshire town hall meeting. At this point I turned around and started saying, most to the older gentleman, that the flag did not represent what Timothy McVeigh did, that it was a flag of historical significance from the days of Benjamin Franklin representing freedom and liberty. The older gentleman calmly informed me that the man was clearly sending a message just as if someone came here with a KKK sign. He also told me that I just needed to be more open minded.

...

I can't even begin to get into the massive irony of the above statement, but needless to say I was speechless.

Overall, I'm glad I went, even if I never got near the building. It was interesting to be there and feel all the anger and tension surrounding this issue. It was positively boiling over last night and while the vitriolic nature of it makes me somewhat uncomfortable, I think the crux of the issue comes down to people being hopelessly misinformed about history, on both sides of the issue. It's so hard to have a calm coherent debate with someone when you start talking about history they never learned and they think you're bold faced lying to them. That's why I think the campaign for liberty is so important. Becoming educated and spreading that knowledge is the most important thing anyone can do for the freedom movement, for at the end of the day, this is a fight against mis-information and propaganda, and we are sadly thus far, still losing that battle.

Posted 08/18/09 evad1089 north platte, NE

I really enjoyed this article. Props to you for staying calm and logical coherent.

Posted 08/18/09 japridemor Orlando, FL

I must have been standing near you as I saw all of this as well. The "town hall" was packed from the get-go and our representative, the Honorable Alan Grayson, didn't even deign to show his face to the frustrated crowd waiting to get in. I am amazed at the spin put on this by the media. 1000+ people show up and it gets dismissed as unbalanced nut-jobs protesting and buried on page 10 of the paper but Cindy Sheehan protests nearly alone and she is a patriot.

Posted by Durden on 03/05/09
Last updated 08/18/09

This is a piece by Nick Egoroff and i'm reposting with permission here. Nick is former Orlando CFL coordinator, and continues to be an leader in the orlando freedom movement.

I’d like to take a moment of your busy schedule and consider what our future strategy should be. I am referring to what we as ‘Liberty Patriots’ can do to influence American politics.

By way of introduction I want to point out that in the early summer of 2008, I correctly predicted the November 2008 election with McCain being demolished in the electoral vote (no big surprise there). More importantly I predicted that the Republican Party would then undergo what I thought would be a ‘period of reexamination.’ My only error was not foreseeing the severity of this clash.

Right now we have the likes of Rush Limbaugh (representing right wing conservatives) squaring off with the chairman of the Republican National Committee (representing the new, more moderate GOP). The battle for supremacy has taken a nasty turn with RNC Chairman Michael Steele first criticizing Limbaugh and then issuing a half-hearted apology. Remember this: when two powerful entities in the same political party get into a vehement battle, opportunities abound.

The age old saying that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, springs to my prescient mind. What I mean is that the Republican Party fortress is being weakened by this battle. This is why I urged all Ron Paul supporters to join their local County Republican Committees. I urged this as far back as last summer because the county Party structure was weak and would continue it’s fallen state UNTIL someone came along to knock it down and start rebuilding from the ground up.

In Orlando, Fl. where I live we have done a fantastic job of implementing this strategy. We now have half of the votes in the Orange County Republican Executive Committee (OCREC). This required lots of work and foresight, neither of which was lacking in our group. Starting back in May of 2008 we begged, urged, and by any means necessary, got Ron Paul supporters to sign up for a complicated process to gain their voting status.

But that was then and we are just one county in many in America. What I want to do is resubmit this original plan with some new updated suggestions for the rest of us who may ‘be coming late to the party!’

I still believe that the County Republican Party’s still offer great opportunities for implementing a liberty agenda. All you’ll need to do is start attending their once a month meetings. Eventually you’ll be granted voting status too. This will depend on many factors such as how tyrannical is your Republican County Chairman. Some have been holding that position for decades and would rather continue to lose elections than consider bold new ideas. Other county party’s are so woebegone, that who ever is left guarding the fort will just toss you the keys and say ‘have at it, you couldn’t do any worse than what we have now.’ I know of actual situations where these were the outcomes.

Whatever type of struggle you face, know that the battle does not always go to the one with the most numbers or to the one that has the best strategy. Sometimes it is just luck. Still you should know what it is that you want to accomplish.

My thinking is that we want to be in positions of power in our county party’s because we can use them to support grassroots candidates for elected office. Right now Republicans know they have little chance of winning in 2010. While they should be welcoming us, they still view us as mere interlopers in their kingdom. Showing up to county meetings in ever increasing numbers will eventually force them to recognize our legitimacy within the GOP.

Once we’ve won the small battle against an aging and/or intellectually bankrupt county party, THEN we will be able to take the next step to confronting the socialist candidates in a November election.

One caveat has to be recognized. Occasionally the county Republican Party will be weak and ineffectual yet because of parliamentary maneuvering, we can get bogged down in endless skirmishes. At that point I’m going to suggest another line of attack.

If we can’t convince entrenched leadership of the futility of their position, we can simply build another Party structure that encircles them. Eventually they’ll be ‘starved’ or embarrassed enough to abandon their position and join us.

We’ll do this by holding our own meetings that we should publicize as the ‘REAL REPUBLICAN PARTY.’ Their bureaucrats and leaders will fume that they are the only legitimate holder of the Republican name. Ignore them. They may even send you all sorts of legal letters with threats. Welcome them. You’ll then go to the local media (which always loves a good inter-party squabble story) and gain even more publicity for your cause.

All of this again is geared towards setting up for the 2010 elections. There are many possibilities and outcomes that are hard to see right now. If the economy is in total breakdown, we will need to be ready with our grassroots infrastructure to challenge the Dem’s with a New Republican Party. In this scenario we can go for US Congress and just about ANY other high elected office. Notice the importance of the transformative work we must do NOW to be prepared!

There is also the possibility that voters will be hopeful that Big Government is still the answer to their problems. It would be hard to imagine people would once again fall for this BS, but never underestimate the foolishness of the electorate. In this situation I would advise shifting our efforts toward state, county, and local offices. At this level, voters are less dependent on what local government can do for them.

To condense the previous two paragraphs, running for high office requires MAJOR upheaval and disillusionment. That shifts the odds toward ‘upstart candidates.’ If the economy and public stumble along, but without substantial breakdown, we’ll have to scale back our plans and focus on smaller winnable races.

Still, both options require us to utilize the tools and procedures that are available to us now. Some have questioned why I advocate just the Republican Party. To be sure, if you live in a Democrat leaning area, by all means see if you can make headway in that Party, But realistically, the Dem’s that I’ve spoken with are happy with the overall direction of their group. Third parties are available as well, but at this time and even with major calamities, I really doubt they are going to be viewed as viable alternatives.

So we come back to the elephant. Often maligned and equally misunderstood. This is where our best chances are.

I have some specific strategies that I will be happy to share with others on a one-on-one basis. Email me at nicholasegoroff@hotmail.com.

I can’t detail them here because I know that the Republican Party of Florida (and who knows, maybe I’ve become troublesome to even the RNC;-) routinely read my postings.

Posted by Durden on 01/11/09

Mr. Cross,

      You have done a great disservice to the campaign for liberty and the cause of freedom that we tout. By endorsing Jim Greer, you endorse everything that is wrong with the republican party and turn your back on us.

      We are here because we have a high set of standards to uphold for the ideas of liberty, freedom and a change in government. We hold here the idea that with perserverence, determination, and a steadfast grip on our ideals, we can turn the tide of the republican party and our country. No where in our campaign for liberty do we state that we should forfiet our beliefs and standards in order to gain an 'in' with the current Republican party.

     If you were faultering in those beliefs or had some weakness in resolve, you only need look as far as the picture on your profile here to the man you stand next to who has for 30+ years, stood up against the forces of big government, unwavering in his morals and ideals, and never sacraficing them to gain a step inside the door of those that would seek to pull this country down the wrong path.

     I hereby call for your resignation as the state coordinator for the campaign for liberty. You no longer deserve the influence that office holds.

-Unwavering in Liberty

Posted 01/11/09 DebbieHopper Fenton, MO

I couldn't disagree more. Mark Cross has done a fabulous job for Dr. Paul and the cause of liberty, both during the presidential campaign and in helping us to organize the C4L.

Posted 01/11/09 Bill Greene Amelia Court House, VA

Debbie, do you KNOW what Mark just did? http://nickegorofforlandopoliticalactivist.blogspot.com/2009/01/mark-cro ss-stuns-ron-paul-supporters.html BG

Posted 01/11/09 Durden Orlando, FL

I agree Debbie, he DID do a good job. But i'd be sitting here calling for Ron Paul's resignation if he went and endorsed John Mccain during the presidential primaries.

Posted 01/12/09 JohnKern Apopka, FL

I agree that anyone willing to act as Mr. Cross did on Saturday does not fully support this cause and will ultimately undermine it.

Posted 01/12/09 ChadSweigert Annville, PA

Wow! from our own ranks, a defection of the cause. Principles. The word means rule of action. Therefor, actions can define principles. The actions of Mr Cross by passing such a prestigious endorsement such as Dr Pauls and the Campaign For Liberty, were not those which are inline with our principles. As stated in a comment following the article, "It is becoming clearer that every step down the path toward Freedom is going to be painful, difficult, and resisted. It only makes me want to fight for this harder."