As I'm sure everyone here knows, no one has been elected off the House of
Justice yet. Former members have either died or retired. I suspect it will
be some time before anyone is elected off. Those who are already on have an
advantage when it comes to the next election. Firstly, I'm guessing they
would get a few "what the hell" votes, from people who figure that the House
of Justice is doing really well, so why not just elect the same nine. I
know a member of an NSA who admitted to just voting for the same nine,
without any real thought. Also, a great deal of the members of NSA's
haven't met some or all of the members of the House of Justice, and reason
something like "I don't know what 'top nine' standard is, and since I don't
know these people I can't say they aren't good enough. I'll be safe and
just vote for the same people." To this might be added the erroneous
thought that the results of House of Justice elections are infallible, and
this could influence the mind in such a way that the results of the previous
election might be taken as a guide for whom to vote for in future, assuming
there are no deaths or retirements. The problem in all this is compounded
by the fact that House of Justice members keep out of sight during the
convention, until such time as the results come in. Many of the delegates
haven't been delegates before, may be fairly new Baha'is, and may have been
unable to afford pilgrimage even if they had been Baha'is for a long time.
But how much does pilgrimage help as far as getting to know House of Justice
members? I think two of them gave talks when I was there, one on subject
matter so light that one couldn't even use the talk to evaluate the person's
"House of Justice worthiness." Aside from that, there was the brief time we
had to meet them, and that time counted for absolutely nothing, given that
the House of Justice members usually spent ten seconds or less greeting
people, limited to small talk. It was clear they didn't have time to field
questions. Two House of Justice members were away when I was there, and I
haven't met either. From my experience it seems that I could go on five
pilgrimages, yet I would still be in a poor position to judge the merits of
the House of Justice members. How would I know how selfless they were as
people? From their smiling at people and saying 'Allah'u'abha?' It would
seem that I would have to go to Haifa and spend some time there doing
service to have much idea. I'm sure some members of NSA's had served in
Haifa many years prior, and knew some House members, but should one's
evaluation of a person's selflessness from years prior be assumed as their
current state, when considering them for election? I'm skeptical that
people have to be given the benefit of the doubt. It seems that the
admonitions about getting to know people well are referring to recent
knowledge. Those members of NSA's who have served at the World Centre have
probably done so a year or so prior, otherwise they probably wouldn't be on
an NSA. This shows how the knowledge, at minimum, would be somewhat out of
date. Some delegates may have been on pilgrimage closer to election, but
would they have seen much of the House members? Certainly during pilgrimage
there is a lot of time to see members of the ITC, so it shouldn't be
surprising that most new House members come from there. But I think the way
things are at the moment, and with the current ways of thinking regarding
voting, House members are virtually assured reelection. I have looked at
all the voting results of House elections bar one, and in those I've looked
at, any new members have ALWAYS came in below existing members. I'm pretty
sure the 1988 election result is the only one I haven't seen, but it could
be 1993. Can someone post both? In this recent election, the two new
members came in at eighth and ninth, but that was just about guaranteed,
right? It was said that new members tend to get only about 5% of the votes.
I suspect that on the basis of the things I said earlier, outgoing House
members should get at least that, and I suspect much more. I would be
interested to know the closest it's been between an outgoing member and new
member, or person who came 10th (if the result is the same). I think
several current members of the House would not be House members today if it
weren't for deaths or resignations. It seems like those are required before
one can get on.
Regards,
David
_________________________________________________________________
Download MSN Messenger @ http://messenger.xtramsn.co.nz - add your
friends!
----------
You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To unsubscribe send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Baha'i Studies is available through the following:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://list.jccc.net/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=bahai-st
news://list.jccc.net/bahai-st
http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist (public)
http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] (public)
