The nonprofit County Citizens Defending Freedom (CCDF) defends the freedoms of local citizens, addressing issues of liberty infringement by local government, rather than state or federal.
North Texas state director Matthew Poole told The Dallas Express that CCDF’s mission is “to empower and educate citizens so they can handle breaches of freedom on their own when they occur.”
If a citizen believes someone’s freedoms are being violated, they can approach CCDF with the grievance, which will address the issue through what Poole called “the Matthew 18 process.”
Poole explained, “Matthew 18 in the Bible lays out a process for handling grievances within the church, and we’ve just extended that out into the world.”
When someone contacts CCDF with a grievance, Poole said, “We research it and vet it and make sure it’s accurate and true.”
“Once we’ve done that, we sit down with the individual or group of individuals [with the grievance] and the party causing the breach, and we try to get it resolved through a one-on-one meeting,” he told The Dallas Express.
“If that doesn’t work, then we bring it to the community and let the community know what’s going on,” Poole continued.
“If that still doesn’t resolve it, we apply media pressure, or if necessary, we have a legal team — both nationally and in Texas — to handle any type of legal matters that may need to be addressed.”
Poole told The Dallas Express that CCDF currently has groups in Dallas County, Tarrant County, Collin County, and Denton County.
He said CCDF has only been active in North Texas for about 45 days, but in that time, it has dealt with grievances against public schools and successfully shut down an “all-ages drag queen show.”
Other grassroots groups have worked with County Citizens Defending Freedom to get those events “moved to an age-appropriate venue that wasn’t catering to children,” he told The Dallas Express.
Another grievance involved Frisco ISD, which Poole said “admitted in their last school board meeting that for the last seven years, they’ve been allowing adult males to enter into female restrooms where there were minor females.” All the males “had to do was identify as female,” he said.
Poole claimed, “That’s a major safety violation: to put adult males in a bathroom with a minor female.”
In September, a Denton bar was scheduled to host a Disney-themed drag show. CCDF said their Denton volunteers rallied together and asked local citizens to call the establishment requesting they shut down the show. Cool Beans Bar and Grill was “bombarded with calls” and subsequently canceled the show, as previously reported in The Dallas Express.
Poole said many of the grievances that County Citizens Defending Freedom address are violations of the freedoms laid out in the U.S. Constitution or the Texas Constitution.
“The purpose of government is to protect our rights,” he said. “Because they don’t, our country has ended up in a situation where people’s rights are being trampled on every day.”
Poole said North Texas residents who wish to join CCDF in their fight could sign up to be an ambassador through the website. Monthly meetings are held in Denton and Collin counties.
Dallas County will soon have monthly meetings also.
Kelli Macatee is a local citizen who supports CCDF’s mission and is working to become more involved.
“County Citizens Defending Freedom is about the county level,” she told The Dallas Express, with added emphasis on the word “county.”
“I’m a wife, a mom, and a local business owner,” she said. “I can’t do anything about Washington or even stuff going on in Austin or other states. But I can slowly get to know the leaders in my own county.”
Macatee said she particularly loves “that CCDF is built on the foundation of Matthew 18: Go to your brother (or fellow community member) first and talk to them, human to human.”
She added, “CCDF has a long-term plan, and they are winning. They are getting back to the original documents of the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence.”
Noting why that makes a difference, Macatee said, “It’s really refreshingly simple, and it works.”
“They are about appropriately and legally holding our elected officials accountable in a loving but firm way,” she explained.
According to CCDF, their Miami-Dade County chapter mobilized to email school board members and convinced them to vote against an “LGBTQ curriculum.”
“In Florida, CCDF was involved in getting the mask mandates tossed out at Disney and helping to write some successful legislation on school board policy,” Poole said to The Dallas Express.
Local action opportunities are described on the County Citizens Defending Freedom website.
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