28/01: On Being Fair, An Open Letter to *some* Directors on the Alcor Board
To be blunt, some of you Directors simply do not
recognize the unfairness of the current election
system in Alcor.
WE members are in the same Alcor Boat as you are! For
you to say that only you should be able to vote for
the Directors because “you are going to be in the
storage tanks someday and that is the only motivation
you need to try to do a good job for Alcor” says that
somehow we are not in the same boat, or that our lives
are not as important as yours.
We members have as much to loose as you do, depending
on the performance of the Alcor Directors, (whoever
they may be), in matters of business decisions. Yet,
we have absolutely no say in what happens and
Directors have 100% say in what happens: This just
plain is NOT fair.
Many Alcor members are spitting mad right now, and
that number is going to continue to grow until some
things become more fair for us. There is too much at
state. We do not want Alcor to continue to be YOUR
private club.
I strongly urge you to begin meaningful discussions on
the pros and cons of changing Alcor’s present
Dictatorship type of election system into one where
all members, who have equally as much as stake as you
do, will have an equal say in choosing our Alcor
leaders.
recognize the unfairness of the current election
system in Alcor.
WE members are in the same Alcor Boat as you are! For
you to say that only you should be able to vote for
the Directors because “you are going to be in the
storage tanks someday and that is the only motivation
you need to try to do a good job for Alcor” says that
somehow we are not in the same boat, or that our lives
are not as important as yours.
We members have as much to loose as you do, depending
on the performance of the Alcor Directors, (whoever
they may be), in matters of business decisions. Yet,
we have absolutely no say in what happens and
Directors have 100% say in what happens: This just
plain is NOT fair.
Many Alcor members are spitting mad right now, and
that number is going to continue to grow until some
things become more fair for us. There is too much at
state. We do not want Alcor to continue to be YOUR
private club.
I strongly urge you to begin meaningful discussions on
the pros and cons of changing Alcor’s present
Dictatorship type of election system into one where
all members, who have equally as much as stake as you
do, will have an equal say in choosing our Alcor
leaders.
Chris Tann wrote:
I don't like the idea of opening Alcor up to a "voting" type basis for choosing the leadership. The problem with those sort of systems is that they tend to be over-reactive to short-term problems, and to politics/personalities. That may be fine for some clubs (although I have been involved in several where the politics and personalities have resulted in "takeovers" which were ultimately detrimental), but Alcor is something that requires a longer-term view than just about any organisation that has existed before. I think that it probably _needs_ a dictatorial type approach.
I haven't looked too closely, so I don't know if there are any "grievance" proceedures or such like. It would be nice if there was some sort of "check and balance" system in place. If things work as planned, Alcor will be around for a _long_ time, and who knows what sort of people will be running it in 100 years. I would like it if there was some sort of check in place to prevent, for example, a change in Alcor's constitution (do they have one?) without the accord of the membership. However, I have no problems with a self-perpetuating Oligarchy, if it achieves the goals....