Originally Posted by
franklin_m
I've perceived a subtlety to AMA rhetoric that relates to this point. Specifically, you'll see AMA talking about exposing new members to the other aspects of model aviation, namely the larger, more complex, more expensive, etc. types ... the ones that NEED the AMA club field. I read that as unwilling to accept the new members "as they are" but rather trying to convert them into something most are not.
I predict that AMA will continue to be thinned to just those who need club fields and those who just want the social aspects. Hence the push to get new members into things that require club fields.
I agree with that. I don't think that it a conscious decision to manipulate people towards clubs as much as it is a sincere belief on the part of most rank-and-file AMA members that this is "the way" to enjoy the hobby. The AMA is doing exactly what the vast majority of its members want it to do, maintaining the status quoi as long as possible. And for many of us, myself included, that works OK ... at least for now, but it will be the undoing of the organization.
On the other hand, bringing in new members with new expectations may help the AMA to survive financially, but it will also change it into something the majority of its membership does not want to become. I don't really see a way out of this box. As I have posted before, I suspect that (as you suggest) the AMA will continue to dwindle until it can no longer sustain itself. At that point, it will undergo a radical downsizing of the organization. Then and only then is it likely to reinvent itself.