Why don’t the people who are dissatisfied with and alienated by their professional organizations start new, alternative ones to compete with them? The new organizations should not be identified as politically conservative mirror images. Instead, they should identify themselves with the original goals of groups such as the AMA, ABA, and APA — professional development, continuing professional education, and serving the professional needs of their members — without political baggage of any stripe.
My guess is that if groups like this were founded with a few prestigious leaders and one or two hundred members to start, within a decade they’d be as big as the current organizations. They would attract not just conservatives and moderates, but all who wanted to belong to a group that served as an alternative credentialing professional association, but that didn’t involve them in controversial political issues that had nothing to do with their professional goals.
Don’t just drop out. That won’t reform the current groups; it will just strengthen their strangleholds on the professions. Compete and win.
