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I find that a lot of houses have this issue, and luckily I'd say that right now we don't have any problems with our General Fraternity. However, that does not mean that we haven't had issues in the past and that we wont in the future.
However, I must say that I'm often surprised at the type of "support" that some General/national/international(I think that covers all possibilities) fraternities give to their chapters. My second cousin is in Kappa Sig and they've had some issues with people dropping out of the house, losing pledges and they've asked for help from their headquarters only to be told to wait, that help will come in two weeks, and then three weeks, and then two months. I can't imagine this b/c I often feel that if we were to ask for help from our GF the help would be nearly immediate.
I think that there are two factors that help maintain more positive relationships between Beta chapters and the GF. One is that our fraternity's highest authority is the General Convention: Undergrads run Beta and serve as the final word on the granting, revocation, and suspending of charters. The highest full time position in Beta is that of administrative secretary...not president or something of that sort. The adminstrative secretary is to serve only as a steward of the fraternity in between sessions of the General Convention. I think that is a vital difference as it prevents chapters from having to appease General Fraternity officers, and makes them accountable to their peers of undergrads.
The other thing that helps is the Men of Principle initiative which focuses on chapters identifying their own needs to become a better house in 9 different areas that have been identified as pillars of a successful chapter.
The combination provides for members to ultimately take responsibility and recognize their power, while minimizing that task of "fitting nationals' ideals" and prevents nationals from saying that their not doing this thing or that b/c their is documentation and help from GF in the establishing chapter goals.
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