I was going to stay out of this debate, but sense I may have started it with my thoughtless questioning of Down on his tagline of “"For every complex problem, there is a simple answer--and it is wrong!" a friend of mine posted this on another site, and I thought it might be of some help on this question.


“A FELLOWSHIP OF FREEDOM ...if only men were granted absolute liberty, and were compelled to obey no one, they would then voluntarily associate themselves in the common interest.
AS BILL SEES IT. P. 50

A.A. *Benign *Anarchy and *Democracy... p.50

When we come into A.A. we find a greater personal freedom than any other society knows. We cannot be compelled to do anything. In that sense our Society is a benign anarchy. The word "anarchy" has a bad meaning to most of us. But I think that the idealist who first advocated the concept felt that if only men were granted absolute liberty, and were compelled to obey no one, they would then voluntarily associate themselves in the common interest. A.A. is an association of the benign sort he envisioned.

But when we had to go into action - to function as groups - we discovered that we also had to become a democracy. As our old-timers retired, we therefore began to elect our trusted servants by majority vote. Each group in this sense became a town meeting. All plans for group action had to be approved by the majority. This meant that no single individual could appoint himself to act for his group or for A.A. as a whole. Neither dictatorship nor paternalism was for us.

A.A. COMES OF AGE, pp. 224-225

for those of you that are wondering what makes AA tick... this is it... "freedom"... a freedom such as one is unable to find in today’s society... alcoholics are extremely sensitive people... and yet these sensitive people are the first to rebel against authority... if you try to make me do something I will automatically resist... if I rebel... it is usually against authority... I resist strongly when being pushed into doing anything... but to be free to come and go as I please... to believe as I wish to believe... to have to freedom to think for myself rather than being ruled or dominated by others... this is freedom I never knew before... and as I enjoy these freedoms I discover more and more that true freedom comes from not so much from what I learn as much as it does from what I've been able to unlearn...”

p.s.
Down, I went to Orange Papers and read what was there. Most informative. Bill W. was prone to exaggeration to say the least. Remember, he started out as a stock speculator, a line of work that is known for less than honest evaluations. I for one wish he had applied the rigorous honesty he spoke so eloquently of to his estimations and proclamations, but he pumped sunshine instead. He could have just told the truth, and let the program speak for itself. But he was a promoter, and he promoted this program to excess. It wasn’t necessary, and he did it a disservice by being less than truthful.
This program is full of fallible people, it always was, and I suppose it always will be. But the ideas of willingness, honesty and open-mindedness are still good.

Richard