I last took a look at this thread in the early am, and 'due process' had been mentioned, but not attacked. I suggest you run quite a risk asking a crinal defense attorney (especially one who served so many years as a public defender) for input on due process. But here is a 'short' answer.

If we were members of "bubbas for chippin", and got together in somebody's garage, we make whatever rules we wanted, change them when we liked, and done whatever we pleased.

But Archie, and the other charter members screwed that all up. We are formed as a non profit, we have binding organizational guidelines, and are required to follow certain legal requirements.

Are we a democracy? If the word is being used in the broad sense that society generally means it, then yes we are a democracy. The members get to vote on the issues related to the club and we elect our officers.

If we were to define the term in its strictest sense, then the CCGTCC is not a democracy. But for the same reasons, neither is the United States of America. Technically we are a republic. In a republic, elected representatives make the decisions for the group (albeit under some set of guidelines). In a true democracy, everybody would vote on every issue, a somewhat unwieldy form of goverment.

The Club is roughly speaking a republic. These are political terms, and we would be better off using corporate terms. We are akin to stockholders, and the Board is in effect the equivelant to a corporate board.

The issue however is DUE PROCESS. There are procedures in place that insure that an individuals rights are protected. These procedures are outlined in the rules governing the organization. It is true, the club could change the rules, but they would not be able to ignore DUE PROCESS in changing the rules, nor would the new rules be applicable retroactively.

I will save the lengthy analysis of due process as a concept for some other time. You may all thank me with chips.