party to 'wash in' through their membership and, essentially, wipe them out? Completely open membership -- or more accuarately, open participation -- can only occur safely when decisions don't emanate from a fixed higher position that is vulnerable to being assailed -- where substantive democratic processes have levelled the environment where decisions take place. To put it another way. Entry into an environment that empowers people and that is structured to help them make decisions -- that is truly democratic -- will always be open. But any environment that encourages power to concentrate in the hands of some at the expense of others can never be open. And the more concentrated the power, the less open the environment (by necessity) becomes. That space where the power concentrates becomes the domain of the 'high priests'. And the 'high priests' (in their own eyes at least) are the 'rightful' repositories of the 'proper' knowledge and understanding -- the appointed -- and thereafter protectors of the true vision/ideal or whatever. And, of course, the 'true' vision or ideal will become bastardised and merely a script to follow for those focussed on attaining a position of power over others (with all the privilege and respect and so on that goes with the territory) And over time, everything that was once fluid ossifies into rigid structures that are maintained through processes of patronage and cronyism etc. The next positive step beyond that, if there is to be one, is iconoclasm...a breaking up and a smashing