GSUSA ‘Tis a Remorseless Eating Machine

Well, I thought I was going to take a break from the blog for a little while, but I now feel like I need to write some more to help me sort through things.  The frustration of this past National Council Session made a lot of personal feelings come to the surface, and I now want to speak out about them.  Over these past two years, I saw a parallel to what I experienced as a council delegate, so maybe this is why all of this is bubbling up.

I built the framework of GirlScoutGovernance.com behind the scenes after receiving a scathing censure letter from our council’s board of directors back in the summer of 2018.  At that point, I gave up on trying to make a difference in our council on the governance level.  In addition to questioning what was going on, I had also tried to educate fellow volunteers and delegates about governance, and I feel like I failed miserably.  It was obvious that the deck was stacked against me.  I still tried my best on the troop and service unit level, but I realized at that point I was dead in the water when it came to council governance.  Even after retreating, the harassment intensified until I resigned as a delegate and National Delegate in January of 2019.  It was an extremely difficult decision because I felt like I was “giving up,” but it turned out to be the best one because it lifted a huge weight off of my shoulders, and I could then freely write on my blog again and work on GSG out in the open.

Back to GSG.  When I realized I was done on the council level, I wanted to share what I had learned with others hoping it would make a difference somewhere else.  Plus I really do like the topic of governance in Girl Scouting.  I truly enjoy the research and I love studying about the history of our organization, although it does make me sad to see how far we have fallen.  While I was lucky enough to grow up as a GS during the 80s, I am admittedly envious of those who served as a volunteer during better times.  Also, I am a big picture person.  I actually do have a collection of Blue Books.  After the 2017 National Council Session, I was lucky enough to partner up with a crew of experienced volunteers who have been such a valuable resource, and I consider them cherished mentors.  They have carried me through some extremely difficult times, and I cannot tell them enough how much I appreciate them.  Once it was time to push GSG out to the public in January of 2019, they built GSG into what you see now.  Note though that when I give my opinions on this blog, I am not speaking for everybody at GSG.  We do our best to remain neutral except for the occasional editorial such as the national property article.

To those who disagree with me about the democratic process’ death, you are obviously in a council where it’s working.  But I’m telling you, it has fallen apart in a lot of councils.  I don’t know how many, but I bet it’s quite a few based on the feedback I get and what I have read in Facebook groups.  And I personally experienced it.  If you’re in a successful council where you are free to speak your mind and share thoughts with staff and board members, then thank your lucky stars.  I am so appreciative of what I am seeing now that we are under new leadership.  You have NO idea what it is like being in a dysfunctional one where you are ignored, threatened, and intimidated when you try to question the narrative or even just ask innocent questions.  I stayed silent about it on my blog or referred to it generically all of these years because I was being monitored, and I knew full well it would be used against me to remove me as a volunteer.

I’m speaking out about my experience now because I want people to read about it and KNOW that volunteers are not making it up.  It happens and unfortunately more than we want to believe.  It’s just that you don’t hear about it very often because people are intimidated to speak in public.  Or you hear about it after someone has already been kicked out so some might believe they’re making it up or saying it out of sour grapes.  Or maybe it doesn’t happen as often now since so many have been lulled into apathy.

This is abusive behavior and it MUST stop.  It flies in the face of what we teach girls and the foundation of our organization.  It has corrupted our Movement.  It completely ripped apart and devastated our council, and it’s happening elsewhere too.  Now that we are under new leadership, we have an enormous rebuilding job ahead of us.  I would like to feel that it’s not insurmountable, but current circumstances are making it even more difficult.  I think this is the case with many councils around the country, and unfortunately, I believe you’ll see more camp sales and mergers over these next few years as difficult decisions are made due to financial instability and severe declines in membership.

I would love to see GSUSA take a stand on this behavior and speak out against it to councils, but I have a feeling it goes on there too based on what I’ve heard.  It hides behind the excuse that councils are independent entities, and therefore, it isn’t responsible for what goes on.  But it should at the very least take a stand and vocally discourage this sort of behavior.  However, it serves it well to have weak councils when you think about it.  Independent and strong councils push back and make its job harder in its eyes.  Much like what happens in dysfunctional councils. Educated and engaged volunteers ask pesky questions, and how dare they disagree with the leadership!  Who do they think they are?

I believe GSG threatened GSUSA’s domination of the narrative, and it went into overdrive to attempt to counter GSG’s potential impact.  At first, it looked as if GSG’s presence was making positive change at GSUSA since it started a big push to “engage delegates,” but it became obvious that it was having the opposite effect.  GSUSA ramped up its propaganda and beat the drum with jargon such as “pivoting quickly to changing circumstances” and “being nimble” while carrying out a plan of divide and conquer through a multitude of regional meetings with delegates and inundating them with its messages.  I know that it was “highly suggested” that CEOs tow the party line and push the GSUSA agenda to their delegates.  Their behavior reflected this.  The majority of people who spoke in favor of Proposal 2 as written at GSG Town Halls were CEOs.

Well, I feel like all of this worked.  GSG’s presence was neutralized for the most part.  Congratulations to GSUSA, I guess.  One of my favorite Simpsons scenes is the one in which Homer destroys a seafood restaurant’s all you can eat buffet.  The restaurant owner remarks, “Tis no man, ‘tis a remorseless eating machine.”  GSUSA ‘tis a remorseless eating machine too.  Arrgh.  One day though, like Homer, it will become so bloated that it can’t move.  Maybe enough to where it will implode, and then we can restructure and rebuild.  I think that’s the only way we can get back on the right track.  Hopefully.

What was so personally devastating to me wasn’t that Proposal 2 as amended to read the National Council as the sole authority didn’t pass.  I knew at the very beginning when I wrote my very first post about Proposal 2 that an amendment would never fly.  But I also didn’t think Proposal 2 as written would pass either.  What stunned me was how poorly the amended NC only Proposal 2 failed.  It didn’t even come close to the feedback we were getting at GSG, from volunteers in the field (both my council and others around the country), and from my blog.  And Proposal 2 as written passed easily.  I can take that we lost because I thought Proposals 3 & 4 would pass, but I am just crushed at how badly we failed when it came to Proposal 2.

I now see why all of my past feelings have bubbled to the surface.  What I tried to do on the council level paralleled what happened here on the national scale.  The harder I tried as a council delegate to educate others and push the envelope, the more shenanigans and roadblocks were thrown up in front of me, the more propaganda was thrown out there, and finally, the challenge became insurmountable. And the harder I tried on this blog and the harder we tried at GSG to open up other viewpoints, the more GSUSA stacked the deck against us and threw even more of its weight around.  Holding the NCS virtually gave GSUSA even more of an advantage. It was an unfair fight.

I honestly do not know where to go from here when it comes to governance.  GSG will remain up and will serve as a resource.  Personally, I will continue to try my best to help rebuild our council and support my service unit.  I am very excited about the future of our Trailblazer troop.  Unfortunately, my regular troop has pretty much fallen apart to be honest with you, and I don’t know what to do about my youngest daughter.  I am having a tough time with that aspect of things.

I hate retreating because like I said before, I do enjoy governance and discussing the big picture when I know I’ll be taken seriously.  I am taking a break from the Convention Facebook groups, and in fact, I left them altogether so that I can cut the cord for a while.

I will give my thoughts about the NCS specifically at some point here on the blog.  Probably this week while it’s still fresh.  Thanks again for your support.