NSA Elections in North America 2009

Posted on by

Ridvan ushers in not just a great festival for the Baha’i world but also the annual National Conventions where we get a chance to reflect on the year past, accomplishments and future goals. As well as to elect the 9 members of our national governing bodies. Yes, it is springtime and incumbency is in the air.

With the retirement of Dorothy Nelson, the US NSA was given a rare opportunity to welcome a new member: Ms. Valerie Dana from Colorado. She is an attorney at law and until 2004 she was a director of the Mona Foundation.

Except for this new member, the same 8 incumbents were re-elected and not surprisingly, in almost the same order of votes: Jacqueline Left Hand Bull, David F. Young, Kenneth E. Bowers, Juana C. Conrad, William Roberts, Muin Afnani, Erica Toussaint, Robert C. Henderson.

US NSA with new member, Deloria Bighorn

US NSA with new member, Valerie Dana

The national convention in Canada had similar results except that two previous members retired, allowing for two new members to be elected. Elizabeth Wright was elected to the NSA of Canada in January 2009 as a result of a by-election caused by the resignation of Fariborz Sahba. From 2004 onward, Mr. Sahba had been a member of the national governing body and acted as the Treasurer. So although technically Wright was re-elected, I still count her as a new member because of the circumstances.

The second new member is Deloria Bighorn, replacing the retiring Mark Wedge who had been serving on the NSA for 10 consecutive years. Similar to the longstanding member she replaced and Valerie Dana, Ms. Bighorn is a North American native. Previously she acted as the Director of Aboriginal Affairs for the NSA of Canada, as well as working as a counselor at the now closed Maxwell Baha’i School.

Elizabeth Wright, Gerald Filson, Deloria Bighorn

Elizabeth Wright, Gerald Filson, Deloria Bighorn

The 7 re-elected incumbents are: Karen McKye, Todd Smith, Borna Noureddin, Judy Filson, Enayat Rawhani, Gordon Naylor, Elizabeth Wright and Susanne Tamas (in descending order of votes). Deloria Bighorn received the lowest number of votes which is in keeping with the traditional experience for new members.

Because incumbency is so prevalent, it is rare to see 2 new members in one election. Usually we see either no change, with all previous members re-elected or just one new face due to retirement. The last time we saw 2 new members, as is the case this year, was in 1999. The longest serving members of the Canadian NSA are Judy Filson and Enayat Rohani. The average consecutive years in office is 8 – meaning that the average member of the NSA of Canada has been a member for 8 years consecutively. Due to the 2 new members, this represents a slight decrease from last year’s number of 8.6 years.

There is a happy medium between too many years and too few years. If members are changing quickly, then they don’t have time to learn, make connections and to be able to take up the heavy responsibility that comes with being an NSA member. On the other hand, if membership is hardly changing at all, as we are seeing now, the disadvantages are that people get burned out, devolve into group-think, run out of ideas, form cliques and fiefdoms, etc. For this reason, it is difficult to draw the line and give a specific number of years, for example.

But when we are seeing that the only way new blood can be introduced into an NSA by the decision of an incumbent to retire due to old age, then it is safe to suggest that the pendulum has swung to an extreme. Of course, we are talking about a free election here. No one is forcing the Baha’is of the US and Canada to elect the same people over and over again.

And yet they do. There is an inherent flaw in the structure of the elections which needs be addressed. It is at this point that fellow Baha’is usually bristle with affront and close their minds. Which is unfortunate since the administrative processes are an evolving and organic framework. Even a cursory study of them and their history would attest to the fact that they are not set in stone and shouldn’t be – especially if they start to produce harmful results. They are the servants to the community, not the other way around.

To understand the flaw and how it can be remedied, please refer to a previous discussion: Baha’i Elections – How to Improve Them.

Related:

Related posts:

  1. NSA Elections in North America – 2010
  2. Baha’i Elections – How to Improve Them – part II
  3. New Counsellors Appointed by UHJ
  4. Explaining Incumbency in Baha’i Elections
  5. Another Victory for Incumbency

← Older Comments
  • Craig Parke

    The Worldwide Internet will eventually change everything. At some point in about 300-500 years there will be RateTheAO.com. Every human soul serving on ANY Baha'i Institution AT ANY LEVEL ANYWHERE on the planet Earth will be rated with AROUND THE CLOCK feedback 24/7/365/1000. The Maid of Heaven is One Tough Lady. The Basic 30 year evolution of the Intel 8080 Instruction Set cannot be stopped. Judgment Day has come worldwide. As the Bible predicted, in that Day everything hidden will become known. And that will included if someone is:

    (1) Incompetent.

    (2) An idiot.

    (3) Mentally ill.

    (4) Incompetent., an idiot, AND mentally ill.

    I guarantee you that at some point there will be completely ruthlessly self imposed Term Limits in the Baha'i Faith at EVERY LEVEL and the cult of lifetime incumbency will end because the heat will be so fierce.

    Again, if you are incompetent, an idiot, and/or mentally ill in your term of service your personal ratings report from the rank and file of your community serving on any Institution will be available WORLDWIDE at any time of the day or night anywhere on Earth.

    For many it will not be pretty. The only defense will be actual justice in personal service, the highest personal competence, and manifest personal observable balanced sanity.

    The Promised Day has indeed come on this planet!

    But, of course, everyone else will have to use lawyers as always and sue the entire community for their bad performance reports..

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyEE0wSVUhQ

  • pey

    Finally the fundamentalism comes out of Farhan. Thank you for saying what you mean- FINALLY! Gays are not welcome in this religion. But i have just one word for you Farhan- I don't give a crap what you think. I CAN doubt the competence of this system and still be in it and still call myself a Bahai. So can Baquia, so can others. Bahaullah exorted his followers against blind-eyed fundamentalism in His Faith as well, yet it seems like you and Masud and others continue to enjoy full rights in His community. Learn tolerance Farhan- follow Abdul-Baha, be as He was.

  • pey

    No he didn't. Besides, objectivity is not his best charateristic so why should he bother. He will maintain and probably be part of the system as he grows up, helping continue ruin it into the ground.

  • pey

    Since you brought up the gay issue on this thread. AND, since you are a supposed to be merely a humble servant of Baha and a supposed to be a doctor grounded in science, please consider this article: http://www.sovo.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blo…
    Of course, it would such a tragic shame if YOU as a doctor, do not endorse gay unions. But the AO is excused since they don't have to believe in sciecne or reason, or care about the health of anyone.

  • fubar

    The inference was that incompetence in the AO is (mostly) irrelevant because “power is in the grass roots”.

    This is a typical deception, and the exact inverse of what is true.

    The basic fact, setting absurd “spin” aside, is that NO GRASS ROOTS ACTIVITIES WILL BE TOLERATED (FOR LONG) THAT ENCOURAGE INDEPENDENT THOUGHT.

    Independent thought leads eventually to people (not elitists or AO apologists) asking “what's really wrong”.

    Indepedent thinking (nonconformance, dissent, criticism, etc.) is always marginalized or attacked within the dysfunctitonal bahai mainstream.

    90% of what you (Farhan) do on this blog is exactly that.

  • fubar

    farhan typically, disingenuously, insultingly, mischaracterized criticism, dissent and nonconformance to the dysfunctional cultural imperialism that exists in the bahai mainstream as “a matter of feeling and emotion”.

    in reality, they sad state of failure that exists in bahai is because of the inability of bahais to transcend their emotional attachments to cultural backwardness, bad metaphysics (including prophetology), and silly ideas/feelings. One of the most appallingly idiotic of such (emotional/feeling based) ideas is that institutions/administration have some sacred nature beyond what any other group of spiritually attuned people would have if they decided to engage in a common activity requiring selflessness.

    farhan has clearly demonstrated the “polite”, but studied, indifference that is PERVASIVE amongst bahais to any new ideas, methods, movements, and so forth. as such, farhan perfectly demonstrates the insularized, narrow, reactionary form of thinking that is typically found in bahai communities. what is extraordinary is farhan's incredible (emotional) “need” to try to use rhetoric and propaganda to maintain the illusion that bahai is somehow contributing to social progress, or social justice, in any significant way.

    I've seen several mass efforts to break free of the typical limits and dysfunctional patterns in bahai, and they were all doomed to be pulled back into the “gravity well of shiism” that (sadly) exists in bahai culture.

    the “emotional” need, AS DESCRIBED IN BAHAI SCRIPTURE, that is the most basic one is for TRUTH.

    bahai has become a collection of LIES that PROPAGANDISTS use to maintain a pathetic, futile set of illusions so that they do not have to acquire the COURAGE to face reality: bahai is largely a failed religion of weak people that INSANELY worship personalities and, even more incredibly, institutions.

    the massive dehumanization that results is disgusting.

    the enormous “disconnect” from what is truly, and best, human is obvious to anyone that isn't a slave to bahai propaganda.

  • fubar

    farhan,

    this is a perfect example of the “real” bahai faith: even when someone like Pey who is BORN INTO persian “bahai” culture, you insist that unless they CONFORM to prevailing bahai culture, they DO NOT BELONG.

    As stunning as it should be to all that you have perfectly expressed the DEHUMANIZING and SPIRITUALLY DEAD “reality” of bahai culture, you probably can't do so yourself because of your “emotions/feelings” that limit your ability to SEE THE TRUTH.

  • fubar

    masud,

    your analysis is not convincing, and while it superficially attempts it, ends up lacking real sophistication. it is glaringly dishonest. in other words, “bahai”.

    the bahai voting process almost invariably reinforces the status quo. similarly, bahai culture almost invariably reinforces the status quo. most bahais, when gathered for collective activities (including elections), go to extreme lengths to “STAY IN A COMFORT ZONE” that is culturally WEIGHTED to maintaining the status quo. in other words, “BE PERSIAN”. For most of the rest of the world, there are few if any (good) reasons to want to “be persian”, or to belong to an organization that has fallen backward into a dysfunctional, culturally imperialist, reactionary, fundamentalist, form of persian culture.

    persian culture is all about “saving face”, protecting the “reputations” of clan/tribal/imperial leaders, keeping a slave mentality going amongst the “serfs” (followers), and so forth.

    it is completely opposite of the major (democratizing/etc.) trends elsewhere on planet earth towards an “ever advancing civilization” that bahai advertises itself as being about.

    the “fact” that people are PRESSURED through the common idiocy of the (PERSIAN) BAHAI COMFORT ZONE to vote for CONFORMISM and the STATUS QUO is not a “good thing”.

    the fact that you see it as being a “good thing”, and something that can be used to “emotionally” marginalize and attack nonconformists, critics and dissidents, is simply another in a huge number of examples of how bahai maintains its backwardness, its dehumanization, and its disconnection from the most basic forms of human meaning, collective “good”, truth, and a sense that 99% of people are spiritually worthy and deserve to be loved, and honored, “belong”, and contribute to “something better”.

    your horrible statement is a perfect example of the “subtext” that is so wrong in bahai.

  • pey

    To be fair fubar- it's not just a Persian thing. It's also a North Korean thing (the dear leader is always right), it's a Chinese thing (the party is always for the people and should never be questioned), an Arab (pick just about any country you want), etc etc. Whenever authority can not be questioned and people are coerced or shamed into conforming, there will be a sad outcome. In the case of the Faith it is stagnation and irrelevance when it could actually be making a difference in the world.

  • pey

    Thanks Masud- I've learned from you how to make comebacks. Abdu'l-Baha was fair minded and He had a mandate to be in power forever- so no I would never say that about Him. (Great method btw to try to silence someone through shame- you have learned the Persian technique in the Bahai community really well- congratulations!). But the people that keep gettting elected over and over and over again because the system is set up in a way that just makes that happen….well these people do NOT have the same authority and station as Abdul-Baha. They can be replaced and they should be criticized if they are running the community into the ground. But a fundamentalist wouldn't understand that…

  • pey

    Thanks Masud- I've learned my comebacks from you. Btw, great try to inflict shame by using Abdul-Baha's name; very good example of the Persian tactic inside the Bahai community. You will be a rising star for sure. But no, you see Abdul-Baha, unlike these 9 people, had the mandate to be in power forever. These 9 people are blessed by a system that is set up so incumbents are automatically voted in. Why? Well, go and actually read the article Masud. I don't have to waste space here explaining it to you.

  • Farhan

    Pey, there is an obvious mathematical bias to incumbency, but what is wrong with that? It leads to experience and specialisation. The Baha'i faith is not a political administration, but a religious organisation. Which other structure chosen by other religious orders would you prefer? Baha'u'llah has prescribed a system where decisions are taken by people chosen for their spiritual values, and who have knowledgeable people designed to assist them, with a continual feed-back with the entire community. As I quoted Shoghi Effendi, there is an advantage in specializing, and another in changing fields of service, but why would incumbency ruin everything to the ground? Knowledgeable people can be left behind in progress and need to be replaced, but does someone chosen for spiritual qualities suddenly become un-spiritual and need to be removed?

  • pey

    Yes, there is a bias, so let's help change that. Why? Because it is not working. Do you see the Faith growing tremendously under the incumbant leadership? Do you see spotless leaders who are aminated with more spirtuality than the countless other Bahais in the community? There are some for sure, but there are also those who take advantage of the system (look up the stories; I don't need to mention names). There is an advantage to specializing- so let these people go off and get jobs and then volunteer a little bit of their time to whatever specialization that the Faith needs. Thus allowing new fresh blood into the system to try a different type of leadership. But I agree with another poster who said that incumbancy is the lazy way of participating in the Bahai community. Maybe most Bahais just want the easy route of electing the same old same old- that requires very little thinking.

  • Farhan

    Pey, I do believe that the administrative order is functioning beautifully well, better than that in any other religious system we know of. This bias was no doubt intentional from the founder of the Faith. You might not be pleased with some of the decisions, and hope that less “conservative” members might elucidate the teachings in a way more favourable to your personal choices, but again leadership in the Baha’i Faith is not complying with the electors’ wishes, but helping the believers coordinate and harmonise their own efforts in compliance with God’s plan. We all struggle to painfully change our lives in compliance with Divine teachings. Just see to what the believers in the cradle of the Faith consent in their courage in adopting a way of life contrary to the traditions of their country. Baha’i leadership is totally different from what we see in the world around us, even though to some extent we might be contaminated by the traditions we live in. See: http://www.scribd.com/doc/279541/Unlocking-the-…

  • pey

    Well, yes of course you would Farhan. But please share with me the growth and tangible benefits of having people get elected over and over again. Why do you feel that there skills/experience is only beneficial by being elected to the AO. Couldn't they be just as much benefit helping new people in the AO? Then they could serve just a little bit adn be able to pursue their actual professional careers in life. Of course, unless, we no longer have real volunteers elected from lay people in the Faith. What you seem to support is a religious order equal to the Catholic system where individuals are paid to serve forever (well until they mess up in some way). Actually, it seems like the Catholic church allows for fresh blood to come into its leadership ranks more so than the Bahai community. I certainly see more diversity among Catholic leadership and congregations than I do within the Bahai community. And it's not the decisions that displease me farhan, it's your inability to see that the Faith hasn't really grown much under the present incumbant leadership and actually place “some” responsibility on them- not just the lay people.

  • Farhan

    Pey wrote : But please share with me the growth and tangible benefits of having people get elected over and over again.

    Please refer to the statistic department of the BWC and share with us.

    Also, there is a long hands-on learning process involved in serving tha Faith, and it so happens that voters prefer some incumbency. You have a right to vote as you wish, but not the right to criticize how others wish to vote.

  • pey

    No Farhan, you can do the research. I think the NSA of the US trying to be honest in one Ridvan letter last year is proof enough for me- not the stats you want me to dig for from the BWC. Thank you for allowing me to vote as I wish, but I also have the right to question the system which is what we are doing here. And if I feel like complaining about incumbants being voted in continuously- basically creating a paid clergy- then I will do so. Bahaullah gave me the right to question and express myself. I don't have the right to create my own form of the AO, but I have the right to question the system's details that are not in the Writings. But of course, a fundemantalist administration worshiper would not understand that.

  • Farhan

    Pey wrote: I have the right to question the system's details that are not in the Writings

    Of course you can, Pey, but neither you nor I can advise voters how to vote. If you have any suggestions for improving the voting system, I am all ears and eyes.

  • pey

    No, no advising Farhan. Just making sure that other individuals are just as visible as those who are incumbants or already in the system. As far as improvements, read what Baquia and others have written, but it would require actually opening one's eyes and ears. Good luck!

  • farhan

    Pey wrote: As far as improvements, read what Baquia and others have written, but it would require actually opening one's eyes and ears.
    Pey, I read a huge amount of criticism here, but few suggestions. Perhaps you feel that my IQ is not up to your standards and I am unable to produce proof as to the advancing statistics of the BF…

  • pey

    One I've seen, maybe you glanced over, is term limits. Now go read again, but this time open your mind a bit. Your IQ is just fine (you are a doctor after all). That's not the problem.

  • Farhan

    So if someone is doing fine, becoming experienced, and the delegates feel spiritually inspired to re-elect him, he would be excluded?

  • pey

    Yes. She can always serve in other manners. It is after all about service, right Farhan? The cost of those who are entrenched in the system and benefitting are far worse than the ones who are such doing such great work. Btw, what great work has been done? Show me the number Farhan. Or better yet, show me the development of the Mashriq's throughout the world. No not just pretty nine sided buildings. I mean the charity, home for the aged, orphanage, etc. that is being built around those nice buildings. Where are those Farhan? In the US, the 9 in charge shut the one thing they had going- the home for the elderly. Oh but they haven't shut down the really nice fancy building in which they meet for meetings. But if you dont' like term limits, then how about no more advertising prominent individuals so that they continue to stay in the spotlight. So instead of a certain member (secretary of an NSA let's say) keeps signing off on letters or traveling to meet with communities, instead everything is signed off from the office of the NSA. No mention of names- no prominence to anyone. These are just some thoughts. I'm sure you could come up with some too- your IQ is just fine.

  • Farhan

    Pey wrote : It is after all about service,

    Farhan: Totally agree; the structure is a mere instrument for harmonising our efforts, although some administrators misunderstand their function of servitude with one of domination, a dysfunction imported from our prevailing world and totally alien to Baha’i principles

    Pey: Btw, what great work has been done? Show me the number Farhan.

    Farhan: I have provided numbers for France. I cannot do so for elsewhere, although I am well aware that when we change structures for a more complex one, we obviously go through a period of recession.

    Pey: show me the development of the Mashriq's throughout the world.

    Farhan: Pey, there are priorities we cannot do everything at one time. Some brilliant ideas I met 30 years ago are only just becoming viable. At this time humanity vitally needs spiritualization. We also believe that the earth is but one country, but we cannot go to the customs officer without a passport just yet. And we believe that in time many ailments will be prevented or cured by an appropriate diet, but contrary to what some misguided Baha’is believe, science is not advanced enough for that just yet.

    Pey: how about no more advertising prominent individuals so that they continue to stay in the spotlight.

    Farhan: I entirely agree

  • fubar

    pey,

    I completely agree. The specific bahai “context” is persian culture's regressive memes/paradigms, but they are quite “universal” otherwise.

    e.g. George Bush re-enacted various elements of the medieval (“blue meme”) paradigm, including invoking a “crusade” against “non-believers” (the revival of which was a predictable historical anti-pattern).

    The american people eventually (but not fast enough, IMO, I voted for Nader), figured out the Bush-Rove neo-con/oilogarchy scam and voted it out.

    Here is one integralists “take” on the challenge of creating a post-modern/integral culture that can support a World Federation that would enforce human rights at the highest level of compassion:

    http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/misc/iraq.cfm

    In this scenario, the regressive tendencies of bahai administration (attacking the human rights of its followers) would be legally prohibited.

    Which raises the tricky question: after you take away that kind of stuff, can a premodern or medieval religious system sustain any “authenticity” when its “metaphysics” have been undermined by consumerism and (hopefully)more “advanced” memes?

    What does spiritually look like, as both daily individual practice and collective enactment of an ethos of compassion and altruism, in a postmodern/integral culture?

    In the USA, we have the begining of “spiritual capitalism”. It is starting to “settle into” a slightly uncomfortable, but important and necessary, relationship with memes that have been wonderfully articulated by people like Sam Harris (an atheist who understands consciousness studies and new age culture fairly well.)

  • fubar

    http://www.goodguide.com/

    The above web site is possible one of the first, major examples of “spiritual capitalism” that integral theory predicts.

    Such activities will cause a major paradigm shift in consumer culture toward an ethos of social and environmental responsibility and “ecological intelligence”.

    (Note: I can't wait for Farhan to state that this was all somehow inspired by an obscure persian mystic.)

  • fubar

    http://www.goodguide.com/

    The above web site is possible one of the first, major examples of “spiritual capitalism” that integral theory predicts.

    Such activities will cause a major paradigm shift in consumer culture toward an ethos of social and environmental responsibility and “ecological intelligence”.

    (Note: I can't wait for Farhan to state that this was all somehow inspired by an obscure persian mystic.)

  • Pingback: NSA Elections in North America – 2010 | Baha'i Rants

  • Pingback: National Spiritual Assembly Elections in North America 2009 | Baha … : Schizophrenia Page

  • Pingback: NSA of Canada: Two New By-election Members | Baha'i Rants

← Older Comments