The scientists who haven’t been bought and sold have a *lot* of power. I’ve observed core resistance groups derail efforts of larger, ostensibly more powerful groups.
The last thing we need is another scientific society. There are too many already, and like the letter that is the subject of this thread, scientists have demonstrated that they are perfectly adept at calling their societies to account when they wander from the path of running a learned society to shilling for the latest political fad. For instance, the present President of the American Physical Society is Barry Barish and the President Elect is Bob Byer. These two are excellent scientists. A former President Cherry Murray was a disaster and started a witch hunt to find the leaker of the society email list when she started to get petitions to drop her dogma about global wariming. She was held to account and denounced by the membership. The folks running the petition were among the most prestigious members of the APS.
The members of the ACS are likewise on the whole excellent scientists. Of course leadership positions in any society attract those with a certain political bent, and it is not hard for them to wander from the purpose of the society if they lose their way. But I believe that on the whole these societies, at least in the physical sciences, are as honest as humans can be.