Another sad soul who mistakes the Internet for reality. This forum is mostly entertainment, some knowledge sharing, a little venting and a little brainstorming. It is NOT involvement. Involvement is meeting with the folks who live next to the field, and addressing their concerns. Involvement is meeting with the County Council to get the road to the field paved. Involvement is talking to the beligerent club member who is flying unsafely. Involvement means building people's trust in repeated face-to-face contact over many years.

Here's how I look at it. The AMA is a bureaucracy. That's what makes it long lasting and stable. Its rules are designed so that it can only change slowly. Your personality may be such that you don't like bureaucracies, but most people do, for the very reason that they stay around for a long time. For the organizations that they support and depend upon, most people don't want to see some hothead take over and make drastic changes. I really don't know much more than I read here, but it sounds like the AMA rules are designed so that it can't be taken over from the outside. In order to gain power in the organization, you need to work together with the people in the organization. I suspect that a lot of members like it just that way.