You can refer to my page about why the service structure is guaranteed to fail because it is a violation of Natural Law to believe that a DCM can re-present a District or that a Delegate can re-present an Area. The GSR actually presents themself – as a member of their group, but the GSR does not need to use the Concepts – the GSR can use the Traditions interacting with other GSRs, DCMs and members of the Area Committee. The Concepts are merely theoretical in re-presenting the entire Fellowship at the World Level – and it is a spiritual impossibility because it is a violation of Natural Law – it’s like saying a Corporation has the rights of a person. However, we the Fellowship, has been hoodwinked into this fallacy because we are slaves in the democratic system of mind-control called government – and so we readily believed it would work – when it does not.
Concept 3:
To insure effective leadership, we should endow each element of AA – the Conference, the General Service Board and its service corporations, staffs, committees, and executives—with a traditional “Right of Decision.”
In theory, this does make sort-of sense mentally, however it is not applicable, being that it is a pure violation of Spiritual Law to give a corporation the rights that individuals have – it is not within our jurisdiction to hand out rights – each individual has inalienable rights – given by God. It is not within our Power to give those rights to the Conference, The GSB, and its service corporations, staffs, committees and executives.
This is where they give up the facade of re-presenting us and are actually present themselves. They have right of decision. If it were all working the way it is designed then this would be great but they take Right of Decision to an extreme –
ie Right of Tyranny or Right to Govern. These are not “rights” because they violate the 2nd Tradition – God is the Ultimate Authority. In Natural Law – Spiritual Law – God IS the Ultimate Authority. There is no other Authority – all human beings are equal. And we are to be stewards of this earth and stewards of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Microcosm and the Macrocosm. As Above, So Below.
I always think back to a time when my sponsor’s house burned to the ground and my home group decided to buy him and his wife a new bathroom set. I was the GSR and the group delegated me some money to go to Bed, Bath and Beyond. I had Right of Decision to choose the thread-count of the towels and the color, but I did not have Right of Decision to change my mind and buy him new dishes instead of a bathroom set.
The purpose of Right of Decision is so that, should the Delegates get new information, and not have time to consult the groups, they can use Right of Decision at the Conference or at an Assembly, to vote on an issue that comes up that needs deciding right the fuck now. There are very few decisions in AA that need a quick decision.
Having Right of Decision skewed the Board’s view on the Manuscript Fiasco of 2 years ago when, in 45 minutes they decided to file an injunction against Sotheby’s being able to resell a copy of the original manuscript which no longer belonged to AAWS since it had been sold once before under our noses and we didn’t notice. Not to mention that by filing an injunction, they incited public controversy. It is never a right to violate one tradition to support another.
So many traditions were violated and so much group money wasted on that “Right of Decision” – again, why the service structure is failing because it depends on at least a slight majority of folks who READ and UNDERSTAND and USE our principles – not a majority who just fly by the seat of their pants and sound good and have no understanding of our principles and how to uphold them. We do not have jurisdiction on who reads, understands and uses our principles – that is up to God. That is why it violates Spiritual Law for others to re-present us.
Use Right of Decision yourself – when you go to the grocery store to buy food for the family, or on the road – when you choose to let someone merge ahead of you vs. speeding up as you see them entering the roadway – in this instance – it is your decision to include them or exclude them – which goes back to Tradition 3, while at the same time – also supporting Tradition 1, consulting God (2) – tradition 5 – our primary purpose – getting to where we are going safely – etc…
Anonymous Alcoholics 