Membership Agreement
PMA Frequently Asked Questions
What is a PMA?
A Private Membership Association (PMA) is a private business model that only services its member clientele. This is similar to Costco or any fitness gym, whereby you must be a member in order to access their goods or services. It differs in that those are still public entities, whereas a PMA is strictly private.
Why did you become a PMA?
The short answer is that we believe this business model offers us the best hope of continuing to stay in business, operating as we do, and in the manner you are accustomed to.
The longer answer requires more explanation on our part and some situational awareness on your part. We’ll try our best to keep it short.
Over the last couple of years, we’ve all witnessed small businesses closing their doors, many of them due to unconstitutional mandates and unlawful government overreach. Businesses were being instructed to discriminate against their own employees and patrons, which is toxic to doing good business. Today, one by one, these mandates are finally reaching the courts, which have been ruling them unconstitutional and rolling them back. While that is certainly good news, it does nothing to restore the many small businesses that have since closed their doors forever. It also does nothing to stop this from happening again. Thus, enter the PMA.
A PMA operates in the private domain, not in the public. It only services its private members who have signed an agreement to abide by the association’s rules, essentially acting as a private contract between members. The constitution forbids government actions from interfering in the private affairs of persons joined in a private contract. Thus, technically, PMAs are not bound by any public mandate or decree, as those apply only to entities operating in the public domain. This is why we changed our business model from a public SCORP to a private, unincorporated association (PMA). We’re hoping this will help us avoid any restrictions imposed by the inevitable “next time” event.
Why is your membership free?
The purpose of the membership is to move our business relationship into the private domain, which gives both you and us personal sovereignty. This is all about sovereignty, not increasing our income via membership fees.
You mentioned the Constitution. Is this a political issue?
Yes and no. Is your personal sovereignty a political issue? We believe it shouldn’t be, but we’d be naïve if we said it wasn’t entangled in politics, only because of those making it so.
We run a small, holistically oriented veterinary clinic, for the sole purpose of serving our community and doing good by mankind and animal-kind alike. We’d prefer to stay focused on that goal and perform only those duties that support that outcome. We don’t believe anyone should be telling us how to do that job, who we can or cannot service, or who we can or cannot hire. Nor should they be requiring us to enforce unconstitutional mandates on the public, or obligating us to promote a narrative we find morally wrong. We just want to do what we do best, and we don’t think that is asking too much. So, if this has become a political issue, who is making it so and why? Regardless, we believe the PMA is our best defense against this sort of behavior.
Why the Ministry? Is this a church or religion? Do I have to believe as you do?
Religion involves the teachings of a spiritual leader and some kind of dogma. A church typically provides a communal space for followers to worship their spiritual leader while adhering to the given dogma. We are neither of those things.
When forming a PMA, there are different types from which to choose. One of those types is a ministry. We chose this type because it best suited the goals we hoped to achieve with our business. While the ministry designation requires us to have a firmly held spiritual belief, it need not be affiliated with any established church or religion. Our holistically oriented practice, by its very nature, believes in the healing power of the body and recognizes a guiding, universal order that one could refer to as “Nature’s God”. Based on your own beliefs, you could give that concept whatever name you want. We believe the body is composed of physical, emotional, and spiritual components, and that optimal health is achieved only when these components are in balance. That forms the very basis of our holistic treatment protocols, and shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone seeking care from a holistically oriented practitioner.
When you sign our membership agreement, you are simply acknowledging that we operate under those guiding principles; that each member of the association is an equal, free-thinking, sovereign being and will treat each other in that manner; and that you will keep our private business in the private domain. You are certainly not required to think or believe as we do, to be a member of our association. Requiring that would be the opposite of personal sovereignty.
*Please Note*: While a membership agreement is now required for all clients, submitting ONLY a membership agreement does NOT make you a client. We need both you and your pet’s information in order to save you in our system. Please be sure to go HERE to submit the New Client Intake form after submitting your membership agreement. Memberships received without an associated intake form will be deleted after 48 hours, as we cannot process them alone. Help us to help you, by submitting both of these forms. Thanks!
Membership Agreement
Phone
720-515-2421
Email
info@ahavet.com
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