[Elfsea] Baronial Questions?

[Jane Sitton]

I'm sorry if this raised your ire, Your Excellency.  But my basic concern is
that power, even perceived power, can (note I am not saying ALWAYS) draw
people with inflated egos.  I understand it is a tremendous amount of work.
While it is necessary that the job come with some perks to reward the people
undertaking it, especially, as you reminded us, since it is a non-paying
position, I would find it difficult to vote for someone I felt was seeking
the job for self-aggrandizement and/or to maintain about him/herself a
"golden circle".

If Elfsea is to thrive and grow as a Barony, she must not select
representatives who maintain the status quo.  Recruitment has been harped
upon by many as one of our major challenges.  I agree it is always good to
get "new blood".  But what of retention?  What of the people who felt their
dream wasn't nurtured, and stopped playing altogether?  There are people I
used to see as "core members" who don't play at all any longer.

I am not so much an idealist that I think we can have (in our mundane world)
a truly democratic government.  Representative government is better for
larger populations.  But I think we have seen it demonstrated, especially in
the past several years, that the people who strove the hardest for power
ended up being the worst choices we, as a nation, have made.

Just my opinion, and yeah, I know what it's worth.  Nevertheless, I felt
even unpopular opinions such as mine need a voice as well.

Amicalement,
Lady Madelina de Lyndesaye

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul or Galen [mailto:baron at elfsea.net]
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2002 5:18 PM
To: elfsea at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Elfsea] Baronial Questions?



On Wednesday, February 20, 2002, at 02:29 PM, Jane Sitton wrote:

> Okay, I'll bite.  As I general rule of thumb, I believe than anyone who
> actually wants a position of authority should be automatically ruled
> out,

This is a bit of hot button with me.  It's completely legitimate to ask
why a person wants to be Baron & Baroness, or what they hope to do with the
office.

But this is a real job (non-paying, unfortunately, although it has
immense rewards, both tangible and otherwise) and it's a _lot_ of work.
It's not reasonable to hope that someone who had no desire for the
position would do all that work well, nor in a timely fashion.

I count among our accomplishments that we made the job look like enough fun
-- and it is! -- that so many people want to try their hand at it.

- Galen