Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Sheep

This was such a great comment I though it deserved its own posting. It also has the virtue of being inexpensive.

Do I hear a motion? Is there a second?

Pat Henry has left a new comment on your post "Send the Emperor and Angry Al to Sioux City!":

Why not start with a more practical experiment.

For this experiment you need:

1 set of "Robert's Rules of Order"
1 dictator
5 sheep
2 board members willing to buck the system

Meeting 1:
Board member 1 (let's call him Joe) could make a motion to remove the dictator as president of the board. Board member 2 (let's call her Robin) would second the motion. With a motion and a second on the floor the motion will be open for discussion. The two board members will make a case that, for the good of Morrisville, someone else should be the board president. A CALM and LEVEL argument for the motion must prevail. Do not let the temperature rise too high before turning down the heat. (Predicted outcome: The sheep will quietly gnaw at the grass. The Dictator will get angry. The motion, upon a vote, will be defeated.)

Meeting 2:
Repeat the experiment. Note the changes in the sheep. Suggest another board member as a replacement (it doesn't matter who, the object is to shake the dictators confidence. Even a replacement by the Vice President,(let's call him Al) would be a successful conclusion to this experiment. In fact, it might serve the experiment if you started with the most acerbic replacement, and on each iteration suggest amore acceptable candidate).

Repeat over and over again until a change in results becomes evident.

This experiment in civil protest should produce some very interesting results. The idea is not to remove the dictator from the board, just to remove him from the role of dictator.