J-R,
Just getting back into AMA after such a long hiatus leaves me a little less than up to speed on the goings on inside. I have always been put off by politicians who claim to know what I want and represent me without asking my opinion so I took a rather hard line about it and sent Dr. Frank an email reflecting my views. It was the next day when I got a phone call from him and we had a rather long conversation about my thoughts.
It was his words that led me to post the message about the Leader Members being the only ones who were listened to. I did not mean to inflect anything about other Dist. V.P.'s, only mine. Some of what he said made sense, from past experience with other organizations, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. It was also on his advise that I become a LM so my opinions could be heard. Now I find out that regulations prohibit that unless I have been in AMA for the past three years. I will ask him about waiving the requirement. I will never claim to know more than the next guy but I at least want to be heard before anyone decides for me what I want.

One way I know of increasing the 85%'ers involvement is for the 15%'ers to hound the horsehair out of them to get involved. That's the way it is in any organization. It will be up to us to get them off their butts and involved in this game. If not us, then who. They certainly won't do it willingly. I am just now beginning to get involved and I find it fascinating that one voice can be heard by so many. Imagine if each of us, instead of back biting and name calling, could invest about one hour a month to get others involved, how much better the cooperation would be and how much more our own opinions would be taken to heart.

So, here is my challenge to ALL AMA members.

Either get off your butt and belong to this organization and participate in it and its' workings or STOP whining about how you don't get heard and how your officers don't care about you. Write your VP, your president, your associate VP, and anyone else who you can think of and advise him/her how you feel.
Don't call names, sling mud, whine, or complain. Just let your thoughts be known.