have been in folk societies where the same people ran things forever, and in one where bylaws mandate no more than 2 consecutive terms..both have advantages & disadvantages...

There is inevitable griping if just a few do it all, but with regular elections, we are always running out of competent people for some posts...and lets face it, since all this is usually volunteer work, some just get tired.

I favor a system of elections, but with a liberal re-election policy to allow popular, competent, willing folk to provide continuity and predictability..

(size is important..the smaller the group, the easier it is to have the same people...I am currently in a large group...over 2500 members..(though a small [core] group0, and it sort of MUST have democratic rule)...though, I'd like to see that more liberal re-election policy here.