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RE: Disc: Pay-to-Fight <LONG>
Poster: Gregory Stapleton <gregsta@MICROSOFT.com>
So, the "real" issue we are dealing with is, as I perceive it, whether
or not one should have to pay in order to be a member of the Society and
play our game. In my opinion, I proclaim a resounding "Yes." Let me
explain why:
Let's take, as a given, the following statement: Money is needed to run
the organization.
My personal beliefs. I am strongly Jeffersonian. I would guess that
the board is strongly Hamiltonian. Simplistically, the differences are:
Local vs Centralized power.
I would like to see a $20.00 membership fee applied to everyone across
the board. $15.00 going to the local Kingdom and $5.00 going to the BOD
to do those things neccessary for an international organization. I
believe that anyone taking advantage of all of the wonderful things that
our Society has to offer should contribute to its well-being and general
upkeep. Put away 50-cents a week for a year and you'll have enough
money to pay your membership and still attend a movie. :)
Now I know people will say: What about the poor college student /
migrant worker / insert-your-favorite-whatever here. We could deal with
that. There are numerous ways: X amount of Kingdom money could be set
aside to pay for X number of memberships for people who were poor,
collections could be taken up to provide for memberships of poor people
on a local, baronial and kingdom level, etc. And, in order for these
people to have self-respect and not feel they were a burden on the
Society, they could perform some service, such as spending a day in the
kitchen at some event during the year to "work" for their membership.
Believe me, I know that there are hundreds of other ways to handle this.
I'm just giving an example to show that it could be done.
It is not WRONG to require a membership fee for the services you
receive. Whether you like it or not, every event you attend, you
receive a service from the Society. The most obvious is the Insurance.
Without it, most of the sites we use for our events would be made
unavailable to us as they require proof of Insurance before they will
let us occupy the site. Could the Kingdom get insurance locally to
cover us? Sure. That would be fine, even wonderful, if we adopted a
Jeffersonian system as I describe above. Until we do, we have to live
within the reality that we currently inhabit.
Every club I've ever belonged to, recent examples being Starfleet, the
local Gem and Mineral Club and the local Archaeological Club, have
required membership fees in order to belong. It only makes sense to pay
your way if you want to play.
The undertone that I feel, and I'm probably going to open my own can of
worms here, is that people still don't want to send their money to the
"Big, Bad BOD"(TM). Believe me, I'm not at all happy about a lot of the
stuff that has happened over the last four years. I'm somewhat incensed
over some recent BOD maneuvers. I would like to see alot of changes
(see above). There have been some changes to the good, admittedly, but
as far as the "Big, Bad BOD"(TM) is concerned, GET OVER IT! The
Society, We The People, are what's important. The unfortunate reality
is: It takes money to keep our Society going, under its current
structure.
The BOD has perceived a fairly steady source of income coming from the
fighters, officers and royalty. So, for all practical purposes, these
folk pay the taxes in order to keep the Society going. Now, admittedly,
there are many other people other than these who are members and pay the
membership fee. ONLY the fighters, officers and royalty are REQUIRED to
pay (and if I've left any out who are required to pay, assume them added
in), therefore bearing the greatest burden within the Society. (The 4th
of July gets me going. I think I watched too much of the History
Channel, yesterday. :))
Therefore, I would like to see it balanced more evenly, and allow
everyone to pay their fair share. Of course, one other way of doing
this, would be the so-called "BOD Tax". We could call it an Event tax.
An example of this would be the following: Event fee + Event tax =
Total Event Cost. For example, if we charged a $5.00 event tax on every
event, and you went to one event that year, you would pay the Event fee
plus $5.00 for the services of the Society for that year. If you went
to 25 events, you would pay $125.00 for the services of the Society for
the year. Of course, we could also put a cap on this. Say, after
attending 10 events and having your membership card punched 10 times,
you wouldn't have to pay any further Event Taxes, or some such. There
are hundreds of ways of working this.
I know all of this isn't going to quell this discussion, but I do hope
it gives you something to think on.
YIS
Lord Gawain Kilgore
>----------
>From: Terry L. Neill[SMTP:Neilltl@ptsc.slg.eds.com]
>Sent: Friday, July 05, 1996 2:41 PM
>To: Atlantia List
>Subject: Re: Disc: Pay-to-Fight
>
>
>Poster: "Terry L. Neill" <Neilltl@ptsc.slg.eds.com>
>
><SNIP>
>The issue here is whether it is a Good Thing (tm) to require a fighter
>to be
>a member of the SCA to obtain an authorization card in Atlantia.
>
>I think that should be debated on it's own merits, regardless of
>whether the
>cost to be a member is $1 or $1,000. And regardless of the cost to buy
>any
>types of gear.
>
>One is NOT required to be a member to attend an event, enter an Arts
>and
>Sciences contest, marshal a fight, herald a court, shoot arrows at
>(non-
>moving) targets, teach a class, run racing hounds, ride horses, bear
>water,
>walk security patrol, man the Troll, cook a feast, dance, sing, flirt,
>etc.
>
>One IS required to be a member to hold an office, fight for or be
>fought for
>in Crown, Autocrat an event, or obtain an authorization card. (Did I
>leave
>anything out?)
>
>Is this a state of affairs wanted by the populace and Crown of
>Atlantia?
>
>I'm very much AGAINST requiring membership for anything non-legal (such
>as
>officers, Crowns and Autocrats). (The debate over which officers should
>have
>a membership requirement, why, should the Crowns be required, should
>Autocrats be required, etc. is hereby TABLED to another discussion!)
>
>But I am one person. What does the Kingdom as a whole think? (And
>don't
>forget, we on the Merry Rose are NOT the Kingdom as a whole!)
>
> - Anarra
>
>P.S. - I guess the cost of membership is relevant here. If a
>membership
>card, good for nothing other than proving one was a member, was very
>cheap,
>I might re-think some of my opposition on Pay-To-Whatever. AK
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