>Good point, Todd, but we have to make an effort to get to the general
>meetings and make ourselves heard. Letter-writing works too, but not as
>well. Think of this as a large corporation which is under the control of
>a Board of Directors who are in it for themselves; the bottom line is
>that they ARE accountable, and we have to make them so.
The only way to hold "lifers" accountable is to take away their base of
support or annoy them to such a degree that they give in just to shut
people up. However, the latter can be achieved from the outside as well
as the inside (well, so long as they haven't put me or this list in their
killfile!). So I favor doing both.
I am of the opinion that the best way to influence a corrupt political
process is to cause it some sort of "harm" or "shock". In this case it
is boycotting the organization. If everybody turned in their memberships
(something I am not trying to get everybody to do!), what would the MVPA
be? Nothing. The opposite is true if I just hand over my money. With
fairly little hope of changing anything from the inside this only keeps
the beast fed and complacent. Why should they do anything when people
keep sending them money? Do you really think that Montgomery Alabama
would have ceased the "back of the bus" rule had folks of color kept on
riding? Pay your fare and hope things change just doesn't work unless
those in control want it to be so.
An organization that cares little about their public image, especially to
younger perspective MV enthusiasts new to the hobby (such as myself),
tells me a whole lot about the kind of complacency those in power have.
In the biz I am in if you treat potential customers the way the MVPA is
treating potential members (of which I am just one), you go out of
business. Just as in my line of work, there are alternatives. There are
other clubs, other organizations, either now or in the future, which I
can join. Perhaps not national, but hopefully not playing power politics
with something that is supposed to be a hobby of peers.
I thought the MVPA was only about the hobby, but obviously I am mistaken
at least in part. I was honestly shocked from what have read on this
list about Jim Gilmore's treatment, previous election fraud, and that
several clubs have broken away from the MVPA (or their former MVPC? form)
because of dirty politics. This also does not bode well as it is clear
the problem is deeply rooted and long standing. I am greatly
disappointed. I hope for change, but do not think it will come from
inside alone. So MVPA members keep up the pressure inside, myself and
others will keep it up from the outside. Maybe someday things will
change... but the letter from Mr. Holland was not very encouraging to
say the least. I still hope to see better from the MVPA leadership.
This could all be cleared up if they just came clean and addressed the
issues. Even if I disagree with their case, I would at least have some
respect for them.
My two bits :-)
Steve
===
To unsubscribe from the mil-veh mailing list, send the single word
UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of a message to <mil-veh-request@skylee.com>.