ORIGINAL: Stickbuilder
The rest of, "Those other parts of the hobby" that you don't consider yours (C/L, F/F, rubber, indoor, helicopters) all are required to be open members, and pay their full share. You don't subsidize anything for them. They have been around since before R/C was anything but a gleam in the Good Brothers eyes (with the exception of helicopters).
I think it is you who missed a point there, Bill. The fact that those who engage in those pieces of the hobby pay the same amount of dues that you and I do doesn't mean that you aren't aren't subsidizing ("fronting") them. For illustration purposes, lets assume that 8% of the open members consider that flying helicopters is "their" hobby. That means that 8% of AMA's revenue comes from them. Now, if more than 8% of AMA's annual budget is associated with supporting helicopter flyers (putting on national events, magazine articles, etc, etc) then you are indeed "fronting" someone else's hobby. Now the annual financial reports put out by AMA don't supply enough detail to know for sure, but do you really believe that revenue and expenditures are all proportional? It's hard to believe that they are, and if they aren't then someone else's "hobby" is being subsidized. Perhaps by you, depending upon what your "hobby" is.
As to your question to whether or not the PPP are participating in a different hobby; according to the AMA, they are. Otherwise why a different tier of membership for them?
Faulty logic, there I think. The membership tier is indeed different, but are they not flying model planes just like the rest of us do? Or does the fact that the plane that they fly, and the locations flown are different mean they are doing something different than those who fly a 1.20 sized kit built Waco? I think not. Your milage apparently differs.
How many times do I have to tell you that I am against any tier of membership (regardless of the price) that does not allow those who's actions within the hobby are governed by an orgainzation that will not allow the members to have a voice in that organization. If you can't vote, you have no voice. How much more plain can I be, and you still not comprehend what I have, and am now telling you?
I understand that completely, Bill.
My responses here have been regarding your comments about front money, though. You made a big deal out of not wanting to front someone else's hobby to the tune a buck or two a year, and THAT is what I was responding to. If you now want to bring that into the discussion, then fine, but that is not what you've been talking about in this particular exchange.
You claim that you are intelligent enough to comprehend the AMA rules that you have read (sic), and yet you keep missing my point completely.
Bill, AMA 4720
Well, I am intelligent enough to recognize gratuitous cheap shots when I see 'em.