Part of a private post from Marcus that I wanted to reply to publicly: >It's not money that USMA would require to 'be more effective' IMHO, as you >put it, but *fundamental* changes in their approach. Evidently given your >opinion on metrication outlined above you must be quite content and happy >with how they've been performing, but I (and I'm sure many, many others >here share my opinion!) am not!
The difference between me and others such as Marcus is not really in how effective we perceive the USMA to be. I personally wish it were more effective. I have no doubt that the officers of the USMA wish it were more effective. The difference is that I have personally run a small, volunteer, dues-based organization, and have, I believe, a far better understanding of the difficulties involved, and therefore a better appreciation for what the USMA has accomplished. To wit: I have had people call me up and accuse me of not "getting the word out," not "leading," not "making things happen." Several people have said similar things about the USMA leadership. My experience is that those who want these kinds of things have no clue as to: (a) how hard it is to get *any* publicity (spend hours writing and mailing a press release to 100 publications, sometimes spend more hours calling editors, and on a good day, you MIGHT get one or two publications to print some hacked version of your release) (b) how little of what is written and mailed by the organization is ever actually read (spend many hours printing and editing a newsletter, mail it to all members and many others, get nearly zero feedback or response to calls to action, etc.) (c) how few people actually step up to the plate when you ask for volunteers to do anything other than preach to the choir (things like write letters to the editor, write articles for the house newsletter, write letters to politicians (let alone visit them), etc.) (d) how hard it is to get people who are not interested in the "cause" to pay any attention at all to you (publication editors rarely return calls; same for politicians) I could go on, but I'll just say: the folks who are running the USMA with unpaid, volunteer hours deserve our thanks, not our criticism. NOW: if you REALLY think things should be different, what are YOU going to do, rather than preach to the choir??? Are YOU going to volunteer to write, print and mail or fax some press releases (after, of course, you spend many hours tracking down the addresses to send them to)? Are YOU going to put some time into calling 535 congressional and senate offices, in order to leave 534 messages that get ignored and maybe one that you actually find someone interested? Are YOU going to volunteer to take over as newsletter editor or designer, at the cost of 8 to 16 hours per issue? Are YOU going to volunteer as chair of some standards committee, and spend lots of time (and probably money) to attend and run the meetings? Are YOU going to volunteer as a researcher, to help others when they need addresses of publications, or legal research, or directories of businesses of some nature or other? What are YOU going to do? And anything you write to this forum does NOT count, as you are only preaching to the choir. Jim Elwell
