The Seat at the Table Fallacy: The ICA, and the Silence That Speaks Volumes
Originally published: 2025-10-29
The International Chiropractors Association (ICA), recently released a video message to the profession. The core of the argument? That if the ICA doesn’t “show up” to the global and national tables where chiropractic policy is discussed, then others will decide chiropractic’s future for us. It’s a familiar refrain: the “seat at the table” argument. But after decades of this strategy, it’s time we ask, what has that seat actually accomplished?
“If we don’t show up, others will define who we are and what we do.”
This kind of rhetoric might sound strong on the surface, but it’s actually a deflection, a cover for a failed strategy that has allowed subluxation-centered chiropractic to be sidelined, marginalized, and erased from policy, education, and research discussions. Having a seat at the table means nothing if you’re only speaking at the table in a closed room and no one but our enemies who also seated around the table hear you. Or worse, if your presence is being used to legitimize the very forces you claim to oppose which is actually what is happening.
The ICA Is Not Speaking for Its Members. It’s Ignoring Them
While the ICA claims it is “representing the principled voice at the table,” the organization has failed to publicly speak out about the most egregious abuses of power from groups like the WFC, the Chiropractic Summit, and other cartel-aligned entities. Worse still, it has refused to respond to its own membership, including state representatives, affiliate leaders, and even current members of its Board who have publicly called for the ICA to sever ties with the WFC.
“The ICA represents the principled voice at the table, both nationally and globally.”
Why hasn’t the ICA publicly condemned the WFC, its ties and support to the WHO, the UN, or the Summit Group’s backroom deals that shape licensure, scope, and education standards behind closed doors?
Why do its own leaders such as ICA Board Member Jason Jaeger support and promote the continued monopolization of the educational, licensing and regulatory aspects of the profession?
Having a voice at the table means nothing if it’s silent when you leave the table.
Participation ≠ Representation
The ICA claims that without participation, others will define chiropractic. But what’s the point of participation if you don’t actually stand up for what you say you believe publicly?
When has the ICA publicly challenged the Summit Group? When has it opposed the centralization of NBCE Part IV? When has it taken a stand against the creeping medicalization of chiropractic through WFC and ACA endorsed drug rights and expanded scope?
Perhaps the current leadership isn’t really opposed to it as they claim to be and are actually complicit in it.
“Don’t let others write our story for us.”
It’s a powerful line. But ICA leadership has outsourced the writing of chiropractic’s story to the very institutions that want to erase vertebral subluxation, innate intelligence, and the separate and distinct nature of chiropractic.
The Company You Keep: Jaeger, ICEA, and the Cartel
One of the most disturbing aspects of the ICA’s continued affiliation with these entities is the presence of individuals on its own Board who actively participate in initiatives designed to expand the power of the very institutions the ICA claims to oppose. As discussed, Jason Jaeger is one such example. He is closely tied to the NBCE, WFC, ICEA and other cartel operations, yet he remains in a leadership position within the ICA. How can the ICA claim principled opposition when it places unprincipled players in positions of power on its own board?
No Transparency, No Accountability, No Justification
The ICA’s refusal to speak publicly, respond to its members, or explain how continued affiliation with the WFC aligns with its stated values is not strategic, it’s cowardly or its complicity.
The rank and file are demanding answers. Members and representatives are calling for disaffiliation. Leaders are going silent. That is not what principled leadership looks like.
Time to Choose: Table or Principles?
The ICA cannot have it both ways. Either it truly stands for the principles it claims to uphold, or it continues to serve as a fig leaf for organizations that have long abandoned those principles.
If the ICA wants to be taken seriously as the voice of principled chiropractic, it must:
Withdraw from the WFC and all cartel-affiliated entities.
Remove leaders who have active conflicts of interest with those entities.
Speak out publicly and consistently against policies that undermine subluxation-centered care.
Empower its members to define the organization’s future, not through backroom deals, but through open, democratic engagement.
Because having a seat at the table doesn’t matter, when you’re the one being served up.
The time for polite participation is over. It’s time to build a new table. One grounded in principle, transparency, and truth.
