[governance] ICANN/USG Affirmation of Commitments

[Paul Lehto]

Have you ever heard of the "consent of the governed?"  There's more
than one way that consent of the governed can be achieved, but nobody
seriously believes and defends the position publicly that there's any
legitimate political authority outside some nexus to *elections* among
the people (such as electing representatives who then elect
ambassadors or delegates to an ICANN board or congress, etc.)

Are you, Avri Doria, really saying what it seems you're saying:
Elections are too difficult in your mind so they will be dispensed
with, or can be, in the interest of efficiency?

In any case, as President Harry Truman said "If you want efficiency,
you'll get a dictatorship."

This is because Democracy's core values don't always dictate
efficiency.  In fact, things like separation of powers and checks and
balances are in fact redundant inefficiencies that a strongman
dictator could well streamline and save money and time on.  Democracy,
by contrast, is a commitment to serial public discussions and votes
(and therefore disputes) lasting... forever -- or at least as long as
freedom and democracy lasts.

Paul Lehto, Juris Doctor

On 10/6/09, Avri Doria <avri at psg.com> wrote:
>
> On 6 Oct 2009, at 11:57, Paul Lehto wrote:
>
>> The only
>> legitimate way to fully claim the public interest mantle is by having
>> a mandate via consent of the governed from the people as a whole.
>
>
> does this mean that until everyone in the world votes, ICANN will
> never be legitimate according to you?
>
> a.
>
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-- 
Paul R Lehto, J.D.
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906-204-4026
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