My objection was to your characterization of MENSA as being "just like" the examples you mentioned, and to nothing else. Political influence is a non-issue, and I'm not sure why you've brought it up in response. MENSA more resembles a country-club type of organization than (say) a beer-brewing group or a congregation. To equate the former type of organization with the latter two is to miss an important distinction. That is my single point. Whether they do good or ill is nothing to the purpose. I stand well corrected on the testing issue, but the error hardly invalidates the point.