[governance] ICANN/USG Affirmation of Commitments

[Paul Lehto]

Guten Tag,

I agree that there exists a slippery slope where political actors get
more and more removed from democratic authority and accountability via
layers of what amount to insulation (appointment, etc.)  At some
point, it becomes so attenuated that there's no sufficient democratic
control left. In that case, at least under state law in the US (some
bad US Supreme Court decisions make federal law more dicey), it is
clear that the "nondelegation doctrine" will invalidate the action
because there is not a sufficient tie to democratic accountability
such that we can fairly say that the action of the person with
delegated authority from the legislature or congress was done with
sufficient oversight and standards attached to it that we can fairly
say that the legislature or Congress is still in charge (thus
vindicating democracy's control).  It's a control test, pure and
simple.

In the case of ICANN present here, we don't have to reach the slippery
slope issues above because ICANN expressly claims "independence" that,
at its very core, requires lack of control, thus defeating
accountability to any democratic constituency.

I freely admit that US-only control is not desirable, but when the
choice is between democratic control by a single large pluralistic
nation versus zero democratic control with a facade of globalism and
no real way to build global democratic control, the choice is obvious
because nobody globally is better off than they were before, it's just
the US that is worse off, and democracy is much worse off, and because
democracy is something the globe has an interest in, it's a loss for
the whole world in addition to a loss for the US public.

Paul Lehto, Juris Doctor

PS In quoting Pres. Truman I only do so to give credit for the
quotation, and to approve in this instance the content of it, but not
to approve everything else that speaker did, nor for that matter do
any of my quotations mean to imply such overall approval, especially
in the case of the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, which was more
indefensible than the first on Hiroshima.

On 10/6/09, "Kleinwächter, Wolfgang"
<wolfgang.kleinwaechter at medienkomm.uni-halle.de> wrote:
> Dear Paul
>
> you describe and defebnd the classical "representative democracy" of the
> 20th century. Good points. Very good points.
>
> However, in the complexity of the 21st century the "chain of representation"
> gets longer and looner and there is less and less a direct relationship
> between the input of the people and the output of a government. Do you
> really believe, that a diplomat sitting in a UN meeting and discussing very
> concrete and difficult technical issue represents "her/his people"? In the
> best way she/he follows the instructions from her/his capital. In the worst
> sense she/he is doing wha she/he wants because nobody controls her/him. If
> she/he is a good guy you get a good solution. If she/he is a bad guy it is
> sad and bad.
>
> What the Internet has enabled is to add a layer which can combine
> representative with participatory democracy. The principle of
> multistakeholderism is the very concrete outcome of this development. It is
> still very early and we are exploring how it could work. But going back to
> the past would be the wrong turn to meet the challenges of the future (with
> all respect to President Truman who also order the drop of the first nuclar
> bomb to Hiroshoma).
>
> Best wishes
>
> wolfgang
>
> ________________________________
>
> Von: Paul Lehto [mailto:lehto.paul at gmail.com]
> Gesendet: Di 06.10.2009 18:52
> An: governance at lists.cpsr.org; Avri Doria
> Betreff: Re: [governance] ICANN/USG Affirmation of Commitments
>
>
>
> 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.
> P.O. Box #1
> Ishpeming, MI  49849
> lehto.paul at gmail.com
> 906-204-4026
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>


-- 
Paul R Lehto, J.D.
P.O. Box #1
Ishpeming, MI  49849
lehto.paul at gmail.com
906-204-4026
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