In a way, DPA is a leap of faith, or a leap away from something you have lost faith in...ALPA Nat'l. DPA is probably something a little more like DALPA without the ALPA. IMO, DPA can't show anything until it has had an opportunity to be voted on. The arguement that they should marshall their constituents to make changes within the current DALPA structure is not being pursued due to the religious-like belief that the structure is already corrupted.

OTOH, I personally do see some value in flexing the constituent muscle now as we move toward a vote.

In fairness, there have been some DPA missteps, IMO not from TC the founder, but from some of the initial committee volunteers. In large part I think that is because people volunteered for the positions and let their anti-ALPA passion get in the way of common sense.

DALPA seems to like the uninvolved masses, DPA doesn't. They want to involve every DPA cardholder to help positively recruit new cardholders. TC's efforts are very grass root, very very grass root.

There are things DALPA has done that I completely disagree with, but I am not indicting DALPA. For me, I just no longer see any value added by being a part of ALPA national. Delta pilots are a large group within Nat'l, but I have no doubt our careers are negatively impacted by the absolute requirement of Nat'l to watch out for the careers of competing interests. There is much more negative I could say about nat'l, but this is for me enough to request a divorce.

The decision to send in a card is a no jeopardy personal decision. If the concern over section 6 timing is all that is holding someone back, I would submit that that is absolutely the wrong motivation for your long term career.