Theos-Talk Archives (September 1995 Message tl01016)

> Liesel makes some good points about the ES, on the basis of a
> lot more experience in the TS than I have. My
> questions/problems with the ES are based on a general reading
> of the situation rather than personal knowledge. But here goes.
>
> 1. Should it be permissible for the President of the TS to also
> be leader of any other organization, secret or not? John Coats
> felt obliged to give up his LCC status, but Radha Burnier
> serves as Outer Head of the ES and President of the TS. Does
> this not blur the lines of the two, and raise questions about
> the status of non-ES members in the TS?
> 2. In any group, is it a good thing to have a secret
> organization-within-an-organization with an agenda unknown to
> those who don't belong?
> 3. Is there any way of knowing the truth about ES participation
> in TS politics?
> 4. How is the Outer Head selected?
> 5. What can we know about the motives of TS leaders in general
> if their behavior may be determined by ES
> loyalties? For example, if no TS member has to obey the TS
President, but every ES member has to obey the OH and only ES
members become national officers... the implication is that our
democracy is a sham.
> 6. To what extent is TS opposition to historical research a
> manifestation of its domination by a secret inner group? Many
> have been turned away from the Adyar archives, and one wonders
> why there is such a secretive atmosphere.
> 7. Is the progressive loss of significance of our TS
> democratic procedures due to the power of the ES? (For
> example, the current international president will likely never be opposed
> after it was decreed that 12 national secretaries must nominate
> any opponent-- as I understand it. And the pool of candidates
> for national president was recently shrunk drastically by
> limiting it to former board members).
> 8. How would the TS be changed by the abolition of the ES?
>
> These are questions I ask myself about this vexing question.
> Any answers?
>