The Congress of Chiropractic State Associations (COCSA) has formally resolved to pursue what almost all of us know we need, particularly if we are ever going to effectively promote and protect the chiropractic profession: a unified national association. For the vast majority of us, the issue is not whether we should have one national association, but what it will take.
Some will say a merger is impossible. They will point to the 1988 ICA Convention, where a merger effort fueled by the ICA and the ACA presidents died. Even though 56 percent of the voting ICA members approved of the merger, they failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed to approve it. During that same time, Dynamic Chiropractic conducted its own survey of the profession and found that 86 percent of chiropractors surveyed supported the merger. It is probable that many more DCs would be in favor of a merger if that same survey were conducted today.
To those who see a merger as impossible, I give you three recent examples that show how the "impossible" can be accomplished. In 2005, four state associations - the Central New Jersey Chiropractic Society, the New Jersey Chiropractic Society, the Ocean Mammoth Chiropractic Society and the Southern New Jersey Society - agreed to merge into the Association of New Jersey Chiropractors (ANJC). In 2006, the Colorado Chiropractic Association (CCA), the Colorado Chiropractic Society (CCS) and the Colorado Chiropractic Wellness Alliance (CCWA) agreed to merge, choosing to combine their resources and focus their collective energies on advancing the profession. And late last year, the Michigan Chiropractic Association (MCA) and the Michigan Chiropractic Society (MCS) finalized a merger after many years of bitter fighting.
What will it really take to achieve a merger between the national associations? The answer to the question of how to create unity is with unity.
COCSA has set the right example. The congress isn't asking for a merger anymore; it is demanding it. It has been too long, and our profession has lost too much in the meantime. It is time to put an end to this divisiveness.
Join us in signing the resolution. Join us in demanding that the ICA and ACA merge. Send an e-mail to COCSA (unity@cocsa.org?subject=joining the cocsa resolution) and add your name to the merger resolution. Copy your e-mail not only to ACA President Dr. Richard Brassard (rgbdc1@aol.com?subject=joining the cocsa resolution) and ICA President Dr. John Maltby (jmaltby@telis.org?subject=joining the cocsa resolution), but also to all of the doctors, students, associations, colleges, organizations and vendors that you know, encouraging them to do the same.
Unified, we will make it happen.
DMP Jr.
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