[SCA-AE] lawsuit and changes

[Tim Button]

Greetings from Tigranes,


----- Original Message ----- > This is just a question...only a question...
>
> Why didn't the SCA take the opportunity to do bankruptcy and reorganize? 
> There are other groups out there when faced with this kind of financial 
> crisis due to a law suit who have done just that.
>
> Rose

A very good question, in my opinion.  Even if the SCA is not bankrupt (which 
it isn't, because all the money in local branch accounts really belongs to 
the SCA, not just 18%), IMO, this crisis brings into sharp focus the need 
for structural decentralization.  I know I'll get a lot of flak for 
expressing this opinion, but I believe that the benefits of a decentralized 
Society go far beyond protection from financial ruin due to litigation.

I have not been very active in the SCA for a number of years, but I try to 
keep up with news and status.  My activities have taken me into other time 
periods of living history, and that has given me the oporunity to see how 
things are done without a central organization directing local activity or 
planning.

I attend buckskinner Rendezvous, and Civil War events.  The Rendezvous are 
put on by local groups who purchase their own insurance, as do the 
individual Civil War units.  These policies are not cost prohibitive, and 
cover enough liability to protect activities involving firearms, so I do not 
think that insurance coverage is a valid argument against decentralization.

Local groups are on their own to survive or not on their ingenuity and 
energy.   I believe there is a surplus of those qualities in the Society, 
and that freed from the monetary and paperwork burden of a national 
bureaucracy, a decentralized SCA could truly succeed beyond anyone's wildest 
dreams.

For example, if each Kingdom was its own group with its subordinates as 
branches, the membership fees would stay within each kingdom.  Insurance 
coverage could be obtained at that level, and event coordinated through the 
already existing kingdom network.

Or, each group could be independent with its own insurance, and the Kingdom 
structure remain as an umbrella event scheduling coordinator, provide the 
Royal pageantry, and info network.

I'm sure there will be much discussion over this in the next few days.  I'm 
equally sure that absolutely nothing will ultimately change, and that the 
SCA will have missed an historic opportunity to make things better.

Yours,

Baron Tigranes of Bezabde