Michael Maresco Responds to John Tate

We Must Forgive one another..No One Is Perfect..We All make Mistakes..Take The Log Out Your Eye First, Then You Will See Clearly...

The 'Pass The Buck' Blame It's All Rather Childish Behavior..If You Want To Blame Anyone For Wrongs Done To You, Get Off Your Bottom And Sit On A Corner With A Sign And Protest The Selling Out Of Your Country By Your Elected Officials..Don't Come To This Site And Complain Like Little Babies...

GROW UP !!

You have some pretty direct criticisms of C4L which up until now seemed to garner a good level of support in the freedom community as such.

I confess I don't know you or the activities you have engaged in. However, by the list of things appended to your name, I am assuming you are well versed in the ongoings of C4L and have a lot of personal dealings with the directors themselves. So I have some questions for you to help me form an opinion.

1) You mentioned "festering wounds". Can you provide specific examples of what you state? Including dates.

2) You also state that the organization is non-transparent and non-accountable. How exactly and what you would do to fix this? Have you offered advices and were turned down? By whom and when?

3) How are the officers of C4L appointed and the board now? How did they get into their positions?

4) Do your comments also reflect your attitude to other officials of C4L or just Tate directly. Are you including Jesse Benton in that bathwater?

As you are championing the call of transparency I would ask that you offer up as much information as possible.

Travel back a bit in time if you will and look at letters and responses as to how RP's campaign was being run before and after the "election". Seems as if we're chasing our tails.

As for reorganizing C4L I highly recommend a C4L "Contact Email" address be added to the C4L web site so that communications can flow in both directions. The leadership of C4L should -- at a minimum -- respond to input from the membership.

Absolutely correct, if C4L is held to it's word, it will become just like the Republican party, choosing candidates that fulfill leadership interests.
grant

...working around the clock to help Adam Kokesh get elected. It is birthday Bomb time...

Do you want to donate REAL money to Adam's campaign? Do you dare? Watch this video and listen to Adam's message...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh8hSO3FF74

In Florida and across the US, the C4L chiefs in DC* have been appointing state directors and exercising a lot of influence in the state agendas.

The grassroots has been cut off except for the persistent "interim" county officers. C4L is being run from DC as far as I am concerned. Problems like this are happening because there is no one locally involved in such decision making. These people in DC don't bother paying any attention to us in the trenches. The only outreach that ever comes to me is a regular mailer that asks me for money.

Because of such actions of the C4L, I am encouraging other true grassroots organizations like End the FED, YAL, the RLC, and the Tea Parties (what's left of them).

If you are in the South Florida area check out the RLC meeting on the 28th!

*Northern VA is a 15 minute drive from DC. I was born there and I tell you that Northern VA is just an extension of DC.

This is my synopsis of what happened....A group came to C4L, to get their endorsement in this commercial that they had raised the funds to pay for($350,000ish). Buck had filled our the survey and answered that he would NOT support unconstitutional wars. In other words "he lied". At this point C4L did not bother to verify his position on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. They did not give the funds to this candidate (another group raised the funds). What they did do is give him an endorsement of sorts from C4L.

...but those "gut" instincts were correct...
...I knew something was just not genuine about them simply by reading their mailers and especially the way they were asking me for more money...
...Other than a letter of constructive criticism,they never got a penny from me...
...At least now we all are more aware of what to look out for in a "Liberty" organization that is NOT in our best interests...

Although C4L has made a gross error I think we need to relax a bit. C4L has "attempted" to do many things to further our cause and in many cases they have succeeded. DP and C4L are two websites I visit regularly and between the two there's a lot of solid liberty minded stuff out there. They definitely do need to restructure and come back to the grassroots as they've obviously forgotten where they came from. There is no survey in this world that can gauge a candidate as well as we can. Why not have a forum where people can post liberty candidates, others can check them out and maybe have a voting system in place on the website. C4L could review the highest rated ones and then back them. If I can come up with that over morning coffee (maybe it not perfect but itsn better than surveys) then what the $&^% are they doing over there at C4L? Hmm... I started trying to defend them but it turned out a little different. I guess I have a soft spot for C4L as it was born out of Ron Paul attempting to keep his grassroots going after the run. All I'm saying is lets not burn all of our bridges when we are all attempting to reach the same goal. Controled opposition? Let's not be too paranoid here (no offense intended to anyone). We're all on the same side, and compared to the people we're fighting against I would definitely consider C4L an ally.

Peace and Liberty

you will find several comments from Ruth, who apparently lives in Colorado, with some quotes from Ken Buck that shed direct light on this controversy. Title of the first one is "I don't agree" and the second one comes soon after it. Right now they are near the bottom of page 1.

can possibly be serious about fiscal sanity, or domestic freedoms, or any of our other core issues.

The "war on Terra" is the dividing line.
That's the key "domino" that knocks the rest of the "dominoes" down, all in a line.
Support the "war on Terra", and that automatically rejects any candidate from supporting the rest of our agenda, because they all fall in a line from there.

The "war on Terra" is the genesis of the fiscal insanity, the domestic oppression, and the rest of the abuses that have occurred over the last 10-20 years.
Whether they want to admit it or not, this is the crux.

Candidates supporting intervention are "de facto" not in our camp.

First, lets give John Tate some credit.

His strategies certainly helped getting Ron into the media and into the debates.

And C4L has done a lot to re-state Libertarian principles in a way, frightened Americans can subscribe to.

Getting the message out to a people whose perceptions have been formed by corporate media for several generations now is an incredible accomplishment.

But what now?

Compromising to get ahead in 2012 ??

Compromising to get more Ron Paul Republicans into office ??

Or
Remaining pure but small in size.

My conviction is clear:
I am for purity. Not only as a matter of principle.
But also as a question of success: It is the only way to succeed, John - and if it takes four generations.

Thanks Michael and Michael. See you at the NH Liberty Forum!

I can't exactly follow the details of this transaction to Buck, but I agree that C4L needs to be anti-imperialsim and take a strong anti-war stance. No endorsing war candidates and it needs to come up as a core principle. It needs to be added to the survey at the minimum.

It is on letterhead, logo etc. "Ron Paul's Campaign For Liberty". I've watched 100 hours of video footage of the man speaking and have read four of his books -- I don't think he would support a pro-war (overseas) stance for a minute.

I seem to remember someone saying "Voting for the lesser of 2 evils is still voting for evil".

I believe it's just about right for the necessary changes that need to take place. The Ken Buck fiasco is just the last straw in a long string of incompetence that has broke the camels back. Personally I would like to see the tone ratcheted up a few more notches just to make sure things do change.

I agree with Michael,
The Campaign For Liberty MUST reorganize.

Either that or reincarnate. In either case, without John Tate and Co. at the helm. If they are not in fact controlled opposition, then their leadership has been largely ineffectual and incompetent and has, from the start, squandered the grassroots momentum, talents and resources that has gifted this movement. It was a mistake for the CFL to set up as a top down organization especially one with zero transparency, accountability or election of leadership. I also believe that it being a 501c4 organization makes it the wrong outfit for our needs. The Campaign for Liberty needs to be able to have a voice,support and endorse candidates and legislation freely, or have a sister organization that does.

About the importance of non-interventionism
Non-interventionism and opposition to illegal war is a major pillar of this movement and CFL's mission should not include highlighting candidates who don't support it or know what it is. I agree we may have different interpretations of what non-interventionism is and I'm sure there is room for debate, but what Ken Buck advocates is nothing of the sort. His rhetoric demonstrates he has no understanding of what the concept even is much less have a unique "interpretation" of it.

This understanding is key and not something to be overlooked as just one thing out of 20 on a survey. Many of our principles hinge on the concept of non-intervention. We cannot be fiscally responsible if we're out nation building and looking for dragons to slay. We cannot maintain our liberties while on a constant war footing. We can't defend our nation when our troops are constantly abroad antagonizing new enemies and providing cover to plunder the worlds resources. We cannot maintain peace, trade and friendship with the nations of the world if we intervene in their affairs.

We are a movement based on principle. That is our hallmark. We don't vote lesser of two evils. There are a million one organizations and pacs out there that will handle the riff raff, but our endorsement should mean something and our resources should only go towards those that deserve them. Let the neocons support the neocons.

This anger is not a circular firing squad as some have suggested. It's course correction. This isn't a schism. We're not going anywhere but those who have abused our trust are. One of our great strengths is that we acknowledge mistakes even our own and correct them. I wish there was more of that in this apathetic country, we could really start changing things around here for the better. A good house cleaning is in order, it will be good practice for the main event come election time.

This is GREAT stuff!

It's a big bloated top down inefficient donation feeding parasite.

Nothing so poingant as the newly disillusioned. Hang in there Mike.

i agree with Michael Nystrom and Michael Maresco that Mr. Tate's responses are unsatisfying.

Campaign for Liberty must not consider this issue at rest. I'm a former C4L member, as this reminds me of the newsletter that was under Ron Paul's name where some clown wrote something racist and it turned into the idea that Ron Paul was a racist during the presidential campaign. Especially since it is often presented as "Ron Paul's" Campaign for Liberty.

with the above in mind, the issue here is that C4L is a symbol. one of the things C4L symbolizes (as Michael Nystrom pointed out) is a Non-Interventionist foreign policy. since Ken Buck clearly does not meet this standard... he should be unable to get the C4L symbol attached to his persona

Seems like just another money making political organization. They don't want to let anybody else in. I have sent many messages that I would speak for free. I have the credentials. But they are an inside group who doesn't want to let any outsiders in to their small coterie.

I'd say one of the annoying thing about the letters I get from John Tate is the stupid phrase "you see,". John, can you use other words? It gets really annoying.

I really think C4L should be for educating people about issues and not to support candidates with their candidacies.
Bring all U.S. troops home now!
grant

I know how you get yourself all riled up over things. Stick to decaff buddy, Love you!

I'd like nothing more than Michael to be the head of C4L. i'm not impressed with John Tate.

I'll get 4 and 5 calls on my CELL about C4L in a day. They must be trying to PISS me off.

also, PERFECT TIMING with the C4L survey. I noticed that there was NO BOX to CHECK for ending the EMPIRE over seas and pulling out of the war.

It looks like that ISSUE is no longer an objective for C4L. I wonder if Rand Paul had something to do with the SUDDEN change. I feel like there is a major shift going on in the group and they forgot to tell the supporters.

met him at Live free or die. and at an END the FED rally. Does C4L have a platform by which to Vet Candadites? Just wondering?

Their reasoning is that they have to pay for salaries, training materials, precinct maps, etc. -

I am not defending what happened here.

But here's my question..

The media often speaks of the Ron Paul army does it not!

This has now become ALOT of members opposed to this, perhaps over 90%.

What if the mainstream media catches on this tsunami going on here on ron paul forums and DP and c4l website?

Are you not perhaps destroying the entire movement?

I don't think you guys get what's going on here.

All I am saying is this massive protest against the C4L will be in the books of C4L history and as well as defame the movement.

Couldn't you guys have somehow expressed your views with more discretion.. somehow????

You go the C4L website and there's a phone number there, why not mass call instead of this overly visible in-fighting?

And to the author of the letter, I suggest you out of all people understand this!!!

You ask them for more transparency?
I ask YOU for more discretion on the same movement you have asked so many to join and support.

.