WBCCI Adopting a new membership policy?

 Past International President Jim Franklin has come up with a diagnosis and the solution for the WBCCI Membership decline. It appears to be a multi-pronged approach which involves getting rid of members who do not agree with the IBT's vision for the club and bringing the kind of members who do.

Let me start at the beginning.... In public statements Jim has been making in meetings which you can hear for yourself on WBCCI's web site, Jim has stated that it is you and I, the "bloggers" and Airforums members who are single handedly destroying the Club by posting negative comments about the club and the IBT.

"Ah, Jim Franklin, Arizona Unit I think Mr. Carson has touched upon a problem this club has been struggling with for quite a while. People on the AirstreamForum, people on the blog - ah, they seem to be unhappy being members. They have driven away more members than what many of our membership crew have been able to obtain. And I think that ah, the solutions that region presidents and unit members need to look at - we need to think about ah, quality instead of quantity. And ah, of course everyone has freedom of speech and we respect that. But people that continually tear down the club, or attack the executive board and the membership and ah, if they have something constructive to have, ah, to do, I think that the board will certainly listen to it. But people that are continually tearing down the club and being destructive, and they're unhappy. I think we need to be selective in our memberships and start looking at a way of terminating their membership and let them go find a place that they are happy. "

This is not the first time Jim has suggested that. But now that he has determined that WBCCI's decline is due entirely to people talking down the club, he has a plan to correct the situation - get rid of the dissenters. So, if you are a member and you have been outspoken about the club, it's leadership or past leadership - you should expect the club to let you know that your membership may be revoked. Any comment that disparages the club or it's leadership can now get you into hot water! So for example, you mention that you do not like the club changing it's name or if you suggest that THOR motorhomes are not a good idea for the club - you are in Jim's sights.

Now, with the dissenters gone, what will boost the already sagging membership (not to mention replace all of the members who get kicked out after a review)? Well, Jim has a novel idea - force Airstream to make products that the club desires.
"Another problem, the partnership with the Airstream corporation. We need to be focusing on getting them to meet the needs of our club with the products that the club wants. Whether it's Class C, whether it's another Motorhome, whether it's more B-Vans, or whatever. That is the thing that we need to identify, and help the 2020 vision be realized."

And not far behind that I am sure is letting in any product made by parent company THOR.
"Jim Franklin actually approached Wade Thompson Chairman of the parent company (Thor) my boss a year ago and indicated that there was interest on the clubs' part and that was followed up this year by Don Shafer and Jerry in Louisville to see what interest level there would be on Thor's part to provide products within the core that could be accepted into the WBCCI." - Larry Huttle, Thor/Airstream Representative, WBCCI International Board of Trustees.[/quote]

If Airstream will not make what the club desires, THOR would be happy to... WAIT! They already do. O.K. so why not just let those products in. And that is in fact what Jim has been working on for a few years and he may not stop until he gets his way.

Later Jim suggests about the bloggers:
Now if you're having problems, if you are suffering thorns and spears on the blog, you have to ask yourself, "Am I involved in this? Do I know who is doing it?" If they are costing the club membership, then you as the leader of your respective region, you need to look in the mirror and say, "am I doing all I can do to help the executive board come to terms, and come to grips with the problems that we are experiencing." Perhaps it might be time to visit restructuring of the club...

It sounds like a which hunt to me. But after hearing that I ask - Jim, have you looked in the mirror on that statement? Have your own actions in the club cost membership? I know the resounding answer to be YES! Your positions on the name change and your past and current efforts on behalf of letting non-Airstream products into the club have caused many to throw their hands up and walk from this club. That being the case, would you yourself perhaps be a candidate for a little "restructuring".

I am sure there are better ways of dealing with a membership decline than to silence or get rid of those who do not share the at times frightening vision the leadership, like Jim Franklin, hold for the WBCCI. It is the dissenters of that vision that I hold as the protection of the very existence of this club.