@bruxus, "...so asking a question to gain information regarding a mandate from an association I have been a member with for several years is whining?" In my opinion, no!
But what followed your question, has included some of what may be described as "whining", in the context of the previously exhaustive (and exhausting) discussions on this subject. As you noted yourself, "@Broussard: Please post that dead horse thing again"
However, I am not quite sure whether your simple "question to gain information" was as innocent as it sounds. Recapping:
Your very first post started with "I know I am probably treading on very thin ice." What gave you that impression?
The immediately following posts clearly answered that SS was only required to participate, not to renew, to which you replied "@MattP why else would I join?". The the next post (with the dead horse pic) provided links to two previous threads on this very subject. You also replied that you had done searches and nothing came up. I guess that's possible and not the reason why you thought you were on "thin ice". But l also suppose the "thin ice" did not come out of thin air...
Now, 3 pages later and after several postings where you made your concerns about "mandates", democracy, etc. quite clear, you just said "I actually don’t ski tournaments anyway".
So, at the beginning you say "why else would I join?" in response to being told you did not have to do SS to join, only to participate. Now, you say "I actually don't ski tournaments".
Can you understand why someone actually reading your posts might think the otherwise simple question, might seem a bit disingenuous?
To be clear I, like you, also "...respect everyone’s choice to do as they wish.". Of course, including yours.
But there was NO choice for you to have to make.
There was no "mandate" for you! Because, in your own words "I actually don't ski tournaments".