(From AMC officers' annual reports, Mensa Bulletin, issue #166, May, 1973.)

(The first half of the report traces Sander's relationship with and role in American Mensa's history.)
 
. . .From the beginning, I wanted to find out whether it were possible to create a society of peers.  Mensa members are presumed to be equal in intelligence but are different in every other quality, yet the society's ideology (like that of the Declaration of Independence) appeals to a broad notion of equality.  Under what conditions can such an ideology be realized?  For many years I have spoken privately of the experiment I have been trying to perform with Mensa.  The hypothesis was that certain techniques would make an egalitarian society possible.  The experiment has, perforce, been uncontrolled, but now that I bring it to a close I am satisfied that I have been on the right track.

I have consciously rejected two techniques of government, the charismatic and the legalistic.  Charismatic leadership induces the consent of the governed through emotional appeal.  It is virtually self-evident that such a source of consent is inconsistent with both the exercise of intelligence and the presumption of equality.  As a practical matter, this kind of government stirs the resentment and opposition of many and limits the scope of the society to the vision, or lack of it, of its leader.  Egoless leadership is one element of the required technique.

We Americans seem to have a mistaken belief in the efficacy of the law.  Our intentions are sound enough.  Publish the rules for all to follow and all will have an equal chance.  It should be evident, however, that laws are often written with partiality and administered unevenly....  I concluded that reliance on the law had little relevance for my experiment.

The techniques I chose seem weak but are actually incredibly strong, government by example and government by function....