Tradition 10 · October 20

Outvoted by the Budget

Daily Traditions · October 20

How it gets captured

It happened, and A.A.'s own service literature records it without naming the country (A.A. Service Manual). "In another instance in an overseas area there was some rather bad publicity when a considerable section of the groups there became convinced they ought to accept money subsidies from their country's government to promote A.A. work, the A.A. Tradition notwithstanding." A considerable section of the groups. Not one rogue member — a substantial part of A.A. in that country, convinced. And convinced of something entirely reasonable: there was public money available to help alcoholics, and they were the people helping alcoholics. Here is the mechanism, and it has nothing to do with governments being hostile. A subsidy is a relationship. It arrives with reporting, with priorities, with a programme it was granted to advance, and with a minister who will eventually be asked in public whether the money is working. From that moment A.A. in that country holds a stake in the answer. It cannot have no opinion about a policy it is being paid to deliver. The Tradition never gets repealed. It gets outvoted by the budget.

Sit with

A considerable part of A.A. in one country was convinced it should take government money to do A.A.'s own work — and that money would have come with a stake in the answer. What am I funded by, in any sense, that I can no longer be neutral about?

Grounded in: A.A. Service Manual, Concept XII (Warranty Five commentary).

Tradition 10

"Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy."

Read the Long Form (pp. 563–566). The short form on pp. 561–562 is the one everybody quotes — but the Long Form is where the Traditions actually say what they mean. Tradition 3's "no other affiliation" clause, for instance, exists only in the Long Form. That single clause is why no treatment centre can own an A.A. group. Most of what circulates online skips it.

And a distinction worth keeping straight: the Traditions are governance, not theology. They bind A.A. groups and the Fellowship — not individuals, and not outside businesses. They were adopted in 1950 to keep A.A. from being owned or co-opted. They are not a rulebook for your personal life.

What the Traditions actually say → The Long Form, p. 563 → Search the Big Book → Every day this month →

Ask Recovery Einstein about Tradition 10 → Get the app →

← October 19The Flyer Tradition 10All of October October 21 →Sober as a Judge

Daily Traditions is an independent educational resource from Recovery Starts — not official A.A. literature, not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, and not medical advice. The Twelve Traditions are the property of A.A. Page references are to Alcoholics Anonymous (the Big Book), 4th Edition: short form 561–562, long form 563–566. If you're in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).