[19312] in APO-L
Re: Promises
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Ping Huang)
Thu Oct 8 00:11:33 1998
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1998 21:01:13 -0700
Reply-To: Ping Huang <pshuang@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
From: Ping Huang <pshuang@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 07 Oct 98 23:42:47 EDT."
<Pine.WNT.3.96.981007222031.176A-100000@SSO05.mse.jhu.edu>
"Joseph M. Fisher" <jfisher@RacerX.mse.jhu.edu> wrote:
> .... WE did not make that promise, or at least not the vast
> majority of us - the delegates at the 1976 convention did. ....
In my heart, I cannot accept that rationale; or else *all* promises,
resolutions, decisions, etc., made by the national convention should
be considered effectively null and void instantaneously after the
close of the general session business floor, since I am almost certain
that the turnover of voting delegates from one national convention to
the next is at least 50%, thus no motion that passed by majority vote
can be considered binding since it might very well not pass again.
The delegates at the 1976 convention --- like delegates at all APO
national conventions --- made their decision on this matter --- as on
all matters which they considered --- not merely as individual members
of the fraternity, not merely as individual delegates from the
chapters, but *collectively* as the fraternity itself. The individual
delegates and to a lesser extent the chapters have changed since 1976;
however, Alpha Phi Omega is the same entity as it was then. Not
identical, mind you; but nevertheless the same entity.
As an analogy, I offer treaties and Congress. Specific individuals
representing their states in the U.S. Senate ratify a treaty at a
specific point in time. 10, 20, 30 years later, almost all those
individuals who voted will no longer be still representing their
states in the Senate, and yet that fact alone does *not* negate the
binding power of the ratified treaty. (And yes, resolutions are not
legally binding etc. etc. I don't mean to imply otherwise by the use
of this analogy.)
--
Ping Huang <pshuang@alum.mit.edu>; info: http://web.mit.edu/pshuang/.plan
Disclaimer: unless explicitly otherwise stated, my
statements represent my personal viewpoints only.
