Open Thread for CFL Feedback

[ShannonOBrien]

I see the biggest problem being that a lot of former RP for president supporters aren't able to find out anything about CFL unless they become a precinct leader and pay the dues. It's kind of backwards. They should know what they are getting into before they sign up and pay for it. When I asked people on another forum why they weren't precinct leaders for CFL, their reasons were based on rumors that had no merit or just plain not being able to find out any information. (Especially when it came to paying the yearly dues.)

A solution to this problem could be maybe a big thread on RPforums and dailypaul from CFL, maybe a big FAQ at CFL or an email sent out to all those on the RP for president newsletter. It seems like we're missing out on getting a lot more support just because people aren't getting the information and communication they need.

 

[ShannonOBrien]

What about, instead of just anyone being a precinct leader people have the potential to vote for the positions.

No offense to some precinct leaders but being apart of a local ron paul meetup our group organizer was not and still isn't very organized. We never really had a leader in the group who would actually get things done WHILE the person who felt he was in charge happily enjoyed the "leadership" role. Only issue is he never led anything.

I don't think "precinct leader" or whatever you want to call the position should just be handed to anyone who asks simply because there isn't someone else in the local area who volunteered.

Just a thought,

or if anything, anyone who isn't carrying their weight locally and showing real progress towards attaining goals and so forth could get removed and or replaced with someone else who can give it a shot and see how things progress for them.

I suppose if the training the cfl provides is solid then anyone COULD run their own local group just fine BUT that position isn't for everyone.

Time, money, effort, ideas, actually foot work is involved and I hope there is a way to screen for that so we don't have groups that stay stale with 7 members per city and so on.

Make the precinct leaders responsible for their turf so to speak, how that can be accomplished? not sure but odds are a state rep of some type to oversee and check up on the various groups and see how each specific group leader is progressing.

Right now they are just accepting anyone to be precinct leaders. There can be as many precinct leaders in a precinct as you want. When they get enough precinct leaders the CFL will have a state convention and all the precinct leaders are invited to vote for their leaders up the chain of command. It is explained on the website once you become a precinct leader but it is pretty silly that you have to become a precinct leader to find out that information!

I think the order goes precinct leader, legislative district leader, county leader, congressional district leader and then state leader. Right now they are temporarily filling those spots with just anyone but they want to have a convention as soon as they get more precinct leaders in the states.

 

[ShannonOBrien]

needs to be a hub for Liberty minded sites. There should be links to this site, dailypaul, breaththematrix, revolutionbroadcasting, ronpaulforpresident2008.com

All these sites that get visited by use need to have a prominent place on the CFL site. The internet media is absolutely essential for this movement to succeed.

I completely get where you are coming from but I'm not so sure that this is such a good idea for CFL because I think we should keep it as accessible and professional as possible. That seems fine for websites that are specifically designed for the likes of us but I would had for someone to go to CFL and get turned off because they think it's just another "Ron Paul" website. So "I object" in the parliamentary sense.

 

[ShannonOBrien]

Glad to see this thread's up..

I'm going to spend a lot of my time in this thread, in fact since I have so many ideas I will try to post one idea each day, to give time for each one to be hashed out.

Tonight's Idea:

State, County and District message boards/forums. This may take a bit of bandwidth but I'm positive it would help a whole lot.

They have a Q&A when you become a precinct leader but nobody seems to know any answers. Not even the very top people. I hope that's just because things are just starting. We do need more communication from the national people.

 

[ShannonOBrien]

Sorry for all the posts but this has been on my mind for a while! I would really like for the website to make it more clear who is in what area. I like the map a lot. I wish you could click on your state and then cong. district, then legislative, and so on. All the way down to your precinct and surrounding precincts. I also think it needs to be made clear that you can have more than one precinct leader per precinct. In fact, that's preferable.

 

[ShannonOBrien]

What I'd like to see when I first go to the site is

#1
An intro video or "Skip" option. Where it shows people like you and me in a compilation video saying what we think about the campaign for liberty and why people should join. And maybe in between some of us talking we can show short bits of rallies and actions and things we have accomplished to a big thunderous end where it gives people shivers and a lasting impression.

(At this stage people have seen real faces, real events, and heard why the campaign for liberty is such a big deal and partly why freedom is important)

I second this.

 

[WRellim]

I see the biggest problem being that a lot of former RP for president supporters aren't able to find out anything about CFL unless they become a precinct leader and pay the dues. It's kind of backwards. They should know what they are getting into before they sign up and pay for it. When I asked people on another forum why they weren't precinct leaders for CFL, their reasons were based on rumors that had no merit or just plain not being able to find out any information. (Especially when it came to paying the yearly dues.)

A solution to this problem could be maybe a big thread on RPforums and dailypaul from CFL, maybe a big FAQ at CFL or an email sent out to all those on the RP for president newsletter. It seems like we're missing out on getting a lot more support just because people aren't getting the information and communication they need.

But that's not how cults work.

Cults are all about secrecy, unquestioning loyalty, and devoted slave labor.

First you must SUBMIT (and abandon your critical reasoning), THEN you turn over your money, and after both of those things are completed THEN they let you into the "first level" of knowledge (where you can begin your slave labor... and feel "good" about it). If you are a "good little soldier" and do NOT make any waves (or complaints, or concern yourself with the real "goals" of the group) then you MIGHT be allowed to advance to and partake of the knowledge of the second level... forever striving to become a part of the "Inner Ring" (and of course, forever at a distance from it).

Seriously. This "organization" has ZERO accountability to anyone. No one truly knows WHO is in charge of actual operations (yes they are using Ron Paul's name... but he is NOT in charge, and in fact his name is no longer even part of the Logo anymore... though few seem to have noticed that.) No one seems to understand what the "plan" is (if there even is one). Etc.

 

[tangent4ronpaul]

More proposals - see post 37 for the first batch

E-mail THROUGH the site – don't make people log in to read messages.

Install a trouble ticket system to use to keep track of people they have promised to get back to. They are absolutely horrible about following up with people. People that volunteer to help them or that they have said they will get back to on specific issues deserve to be issued a trouble ticket and be able to look the number up to determine it's status. This goes for bug fixes as well as calls. A public display of how many open tickets a staff member has open should be available as well as the age of the oldest open ticket. Lets make the staff accountable.

Transparency – who is on the staff, in what positions, an organizational chart, and a broken down accounting of where every penny was spent (including salaries) posted on at least a monthly basis.

An at least monthly report of the status of every project the CFL is working on as well as announced plans. They can start with what happened to the $70,000 donated to inform voters how their Congress critters voted on the bailout and why no newspaper ads were placed. Also, why they failed to adequately publicize the effort or have a ticker up for donations with contributors names.

Getting rid of the $35 fee for precinct leaders and rely on donations (becoming performance based), as well as getting rid of the yearly REQUIREMENTS and making them suggestions. Then get rid of the NDA or at least remove the objectionable and unworkable parts from it.

Become a big tent for the grassroots rather than keeping us at arms length. (see post 37)

If the requirements for Voter Vault are really causing so many problems (I doubt it), then get rid of Voter Vault and use something from another source (this info is available elsewhere) that doesn't have all the strings attached.

Get rid of the “official” everything and us vs them approach to the grassroots. A good start would probably be firing the lawyers and giving the control freaks that are running things an attitude adjustment.

Give up on recruiting new members and become performance based. If they focused on doing a few things well, the members and money will come. Stop trying to do everything and operate like a for profit business.

Mashup the site and let the grassroots run a good deal of it – let Daily Paul be the blog.

Use volunteers whenever possible or contract out small jobs. For example, there is no possible way they could occupy a full time flash programmer and 2 have volunteered in the past – but they are trying to hire one!

Adopt these principles:
Openness and accountability – NOT secrecy!
Inclusive NOT exclusive!
Not trying to control everything!
Focused on doing a few things well that the grassroots are not already doing.
Responsive to the membership and support base.
Getting a lot done with frugal spending is more important than raising a lot of money.
Information sharing, NOT hording and restricting access.

-t

 

[Nate K]

E-mail THROUGH the site – don't make people log in to read messages.

I second that.

Transparency – who is on the staff, in what positions, an organizational chart, and a broken down accounting of where every penny was spent (including salaries) posted on at least a monthly basis.

strongly second that.

An at least monthly report of the status of every project the CFL is working on as well as announced plans. They can start with what happened to the $70,000 donated to inform voters how their Congress critters voted on the bailout and why no newspaper ads were placed. Also, why they failed to adequately publicize the effort or have a ticker up for donations with contributors names.

second that and propose simple amendment. They need to learn to set dates. If people are waiting on something, they can't keep leaving us hanging - set a date, even if they don't know when exactly it will be, just set the date further back to give time then. It works.

Get rid of the “official” everything and us vs them approach to the grassroots. A good start would probably be firing the lawyers and giving the control freaks that are running things an attitude adjustment.

second that.

Give up on recruiting new members and become performance based. If they focused on doing a few things well, the members and money will come. Stop trying to do everything and operate like a for profit business.

Mashup the site and let the grassroots run a good deal of it – let Daily Paul be the blog.

Use volunteers whenever possible or contract out small jobs. For example, there is no possible way they could occupy a full time flash programmer and 2 have volunteered in the past – but they are trying to hire one!

second all 3. we could just combine the last one with the skills bank idea.

 

[Austin]

bump

 

[Austin]

Glad to see this thread's up..

I'm going to spend a lot of my time in this thread, in fact since I have so many ideas I will try to post one idea each day, to give time for each one to be hashed out.

Tonight's Idea:

State, County and District message boards/forums. This may take a bit of bandwidth but I'm positive it would help a whole lot.

I have a feeling the forum they are developing is going to be underwhelming. That said, I am going to second this motion, because having something established in the event that their forum does not have the necessary levels of discussion, we will already have it fleshed out.

I will create a thread for discussion.

 

[Austin]

New Idea:

The Campaign for Liberty should offer a preview of the features gained by becoming a dues-paying member.

 

[billbob]

http://beta.campaignforliberty.com

what's that? some tests? shouldn't be public.