Unless the members wake up, I guess the downhill spiral will continue.
The problem, IMHO, is that most members really don't care. All they are interested in is working someone in a new grid. It's really a major problem of apathy that allows the legacy, incumbents to maintain their power and to continue to run the organization as their clubhouse.
In the last election, only about a 1/3 of the membership cast a vote. Out of those that voted, 57% voted for incumbents and 43% voted for those of us that were challengers. Even though the incumbents won, it was only by a small amount and from less than half (1/3) of the AMSAT-NA membership.
The legacy, incumbents would want you to think that there was a mandate by the members, there wasn't. Only 1/3 of the members voted and legacy, incumbent Board members only got 57% of 1/3 of the members' votes. This obviously shows great apathy within the organization. This apathy has allowed legacy, incumbent Board members to do as they wish with no oversight from members.
When a member such as myself of the OP speaks up or speaks out, we are quickly silenced by censoring us and banishing us from being able to use any of AMSAT-NA's social media. The legacy, incumbents, apparently, do not believe in democracy within the organization because this would cost them their power of using the organization as their clubhouse.
I am a paid member and, as such, I will continue to speak out against these malfeasances and will attempt to educate others but if only 1/3 of the membership votes and those 1/3 vote based solely on name recognition we will end-up with the same results.
AMSAT-NA is definitely in a downward spiral. They are no longer the premier satellite organization. Members are to blame for allowing this to happen. When things spiral downward enough, they eventually hit the ground and crash... much like a satellite coming out of orbit and burning up in the atmosphere.
Please note that not once here in this thread, nor anywhere else, has anyone stated that legacy, incumbents were (most recently) not involved in a conspiracy that violated AMSAT-NA bylaws and Washington DC corporate code and cost members over $10K. It cannot be denied because it happened and has been documented. The conspiracy occurred in a vain attempt to keep two, good AMSAT-NA Board members from spilling the beans about what's been happening behind the smoke and mirrors that the legacy, incumbent Board members use to deflect from the real issues.
If you really want to get the legacy, incumbent Board members riled-up, ask them for a failure analysis of A0-92 which died a premature death or about AO-95 that never worked. Guess what? You'll hear crickets. The modus operandi is to ignore legitimate questions and just keep saying GOLF, GOLF, GOLF. Why should we spend good money when we don't even know why or satellites fail (or don't work) at a rate greater than other organizations'?
I could go on and on and on with what's wrong within AMSAT-NA. I have cited the two current Board members that are maintaining blogs documenting what they have uncovered within the AMSAT-NA leadership. Nothing they have written in their blogs is in dispute, yet 57% of 1/3 of the membership reelected the legacy, incumbent Board members that continue their same antics in the cushy AMSAT-NA clubhouse.
Apathy has allowed and, is allowing, this to happen. Thank goodness the Chinese and other countries have some very robust satellites in orbit because AMSAT-NA only has one modern, FM satellite in orbit (AO-91) that functions. AMSAT-NA does still have AO-7 that works in sunlight but it was launched in 1974 and it's a miracle that it's still quasi-functional. With current legal restrictions, odds are, that AMSAT-NA will never be able to replicate the HEO of AO-7 even those that's what legacy, incumbent Board members used in their campaign. Under current law, that's just not going to happen.
Once again, I've typed a lot of words but you are exactly right about members needing to wake up and to not blindly follow those that have already been caught in an illegal conspiracy. There will soon be another election, one never knows what else might come out about the legacy, incumbent Board members which will run for reelection but it will be up to the members to make a change. Apathy kills.