Fred,
I appreciate your observations and can agree in some small measure. But I'll argue that what must be the basis of any "national organization" is
excellence. Everything else should be, and should be represented as, secondary and subordinate to excellence. This is not true of ABS.
However, lest we get going full steam down the wrong track, let me say that my criticisms in this case are specific - a national organization using their subscription publication to disseminate bad bonsai technique.
That is what is wrong in this particular case. No matter how lax ABS wants to be in upholding standards of excellence, spreading harmful and/or irrelevant information is bad, bad, bad no matter the appetite for excellence in the U.S.
Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
www.andyrutledge.com/palaver/main.htm
zone 8, Texas