Charter Rough Draft #1

[Greg Rose]

Greetings to all from Hossein!

A heretical thought: why do we even need a charter?  One of the most
disappointing things in the SCA over the last decade, for me at least, has
been the explosion of rules-making.  We've seen it in the marshallate,
in heraldry, in the general governance of the society; and I think it is
by and large a bad thing.  There is a tendency at the upper reaches of
our society to think of the rest of us as children who will go astray
if every possible contingency isn't mapped out in excruciating detail and
"the right way" isn't solemnly marked with an official imprimatur.

I long for the days when the only significant rules were (i) have fun
and (ii) don't do anything egregiously stupid.

The people on this list are adults who can judge the reasonableness and
appropriateness of their postings.  If there is an occasional horse's ass
who can't see reason and doesn't understand what's appropriate, then life's
like that.  Why legislate against the random ass, particularly if it means
legislating for the sensible overwhelming majority?

In a curmudgeonly mood,

Hossein/Greg