RE: MAAC membership reasonable?
Sharpe may have a point when he suggests that some key items should be explicitly stipulated - insurance, frequencies and gov't relationship are all essential as he says.
On the other hand, Jim McIntyre is also correct when he says that the "vague" wording of the constitution may have been intentional. Indeed it almost certainly was intentional, because that's how constitutions are written (try reading the most famous one of all, from our friends south of 49). Constitutions have to provide guidance for a changing organization in a changing world, so they don't usually contain a lot of specific directives. On the other hand, you do find specific statements about the things an organization thinks really matter to it - in the US it's free speech, free guns etc (which were added later as amendments)
Laws are the specifics by which the constitution is put into practice. That's why the law books are always much longer and way way more detailed than the constitution. Laws represent the interpretation of the constitution at a given time, and they can and should be changed when needed, provided that they remain consistent with the constitution.
In light of my comments, may I suggest that it is highly significant that MAAC's constitution has FOUR fairly specific items in its "Objectives" relating to competitions and none relating to insurance or frequencies? Clearly, the constitution was framed in the belief that competition was a primary goal of MAAC. That does not mean that the framers felt that insurance or frequencies were unimportant - it is likely in fact that they believed that their importance was so obvious that they could be subsumed in the two general statements of items (a) and (d).
Maybe that is so, maybe it isn't. I wasn't there. But, I do agree with Sharpe about a need for some specifics regarding priorities - some of which probably can be codified as bylaws of the organization, while it may be that others could be added as amendments to the constitution.
My opinion is also that, despite 4 mentions of competition in the constitution's objectives, it would be appropriate to ASK THE MEMBERSHIP what the priorities for MAAC should be. If the majority of members think competitions should be priority 1, then I'm prepared to go along with that and I would support the executive in budgeting in support of competitions even though I have no intention of participating. On the other hand...