Voted Away

A group can give away its autonomy by its own vote, and it usually does it to be helpful. Picture a group that meets in a facility's lounge because the rent is free. The staff ask for small things, one at a time. A sign-in sheet, so they know who was in the building. Only the facility's handouts on the table. End ten minutes early for the count. A staff member sits at the back, just to listen. Each time the group votes yes, to keep the room. A year later the facility's rules are the meeting, and nobody remembers deciding that. Every one of those votes was the group's right, and together they spent the right. The Long Form says a group's affairs answer to "no other authority than its own conscience" (Big Book, p. 563), and a group that votes in another authority has made itself a guest. Bill W. listed what A.A. does without (A.A. pamphlet P-17, p. 37): "no fees, no dues, no rules and regulations, no demand that alcoholics conform to A.A. principles, no one set in personal authority over anyone else." A free room that comes with an authority attached is not free. Test it tonight: list the rules your meeting follows, and mark the ones your members actually chose.