"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." -- unknown

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results - Albert Einstein

another country heard from
September 11, 2002 - 7:40 am

it shouldn't be. at the heart of the matter, it is cut and dry.

the fact they tried to do what they did, gives me pause. i remember myself as part of that group years ago. i try to imagine someone bringing this up. i can easily imagine people jumping all over it, it not having a chance to pass.

i think about the group now and wonder what was lost, what's changed since i left. why is it that what made sense to them, is so utterly mindblowing to me?

i think it comes down to this. they saw a person they really liked, who they felt _should_ be able to do something. it's the should part. it's subjective. there are rules that govern this situation. rules that are in place for a reason and have been in place since the inception of the group. very basic rules, criteria really, that define the nature...that give meaning to the name.

i retort, just because you like someone and think they _should_ be able to do something, doesn't mean you are right in circumventing, changing..whatever word you wish to use, the basic foundations of an organization to get it. in so doing you make your organization different from all the rest, you change it's basic nature. you make it into something that it isn't and never was intended to be.

it's a lesson in life. there is a framework in which we all must live. there are rules that define that framework. we are a nation of laws, sometimes silly laws, but laws nonetheless. just think if each town could rewrite parts of the constitution it didn't like. in one town it might be illegal for carry firearms, in another it's legal. in one town the freedom of speech might be very limited or religion is no longer seperated from state.

with fifty individually altered versions of the constitution, would we still be a country? would we still be able to elect a president? imagine if the president had to meet fifty differnt qualifications? imagine the rules and laws changing from one year to the next? it's easy to get a vote on something at the local level, there's fewer people involved. laws literally could change over night.

no, should is the key word. there's a process for such change. each local group needs to convince the other local groups. each group must have the same rules, the same criteria. how else can you can you call it a group? it's not about sharing a name and doing whatever the hell you'd like to.

this is my romantic idealist side talking.