Theos-Talk Archives (October 2008 Message tt00687)

My feeling on the matter is that the motivations are far deeper than just  
wanting to trade hats on the desert island.  If you look back at the  archives 
of the various TS lists, you can find a lot of resentment aimed at  Radha and 
her administrative style and this last election may have brought that  to a 
head.  It could very well be an unstated "We're sick of those damned  Indians," 
feeling on the part of the various section heads.
 
Chuck the Heretic
 
 
In a message dated 10/20/2008 2:45:44 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
mkr777@gmail.com writes:

 
 
 
For a long time, in International Elections, the ballots simply listed  the
names of candidates. However, in the current election, the nominators  were
listed.

>From what I hear, this change was put in place recently  by the GC. None in
the general membership know who proposed the change,  what were the
motivations (real and stated) and what were the  justifications for the
change. We do not know anything about this change,  even though we the
members are the voters have a moral and ethical right to  know about it.

Recently while reading about the election manifesto of  Ernest Wood when he
ran for the Presidency, I ran into a very interesting  statement, which is
given below:

"The Society has now in force a new  system of election of President which
has ultimately resulted from a  suggestion made by Dr. Besant. Wishing to
avoid some of the faults of the  old method, she wrote: "why should not two
or more names be submitted, and  an absolute majority of the votes cast be
sufficient for election?" (The  Theosophist, September 1907, page 882). This
being so, the fact that she  did not use her right to give a nomination seems
to me to show that she  desired the members to vote with absolutely free
judgment, not influenced  by her as a spiritual teacher."

If Annie Besant desired the members to  vote with absolutely free judgment,
not influenced by her as a spiritual  teacher, it makes me wonder why the
members of General Council sought to  reverse the long tradition and try to
sway the free judgement of the  members. Once we go down the path of
influencing members, where do we stop?  This is the start of horse trading.

MKR

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