xml-dev - Re: Democracy Re: SAX (Introduction, Recomandations, Future...)

["Clark C. Evans" <cce@clarkevans.com>]

> > Ok, I should have said democracy does not exclude delegtion of
> > decisions for a limited time period. 
> 
> I doubt Ann would find either formulation less ironic - nor would I. 
> Democracy is *about* delegating the power to take decisions; it is 
> not about taking part in decisions, though.

A *representative* democracy is about delegating decision
making power; as opposed to a *direct* democracy where 
you participate directly.

...

> To hell with democracy - much better to actually have a 
> say and a chance to influence decisions.

It's seems your basic problem is with the form of
*representation* used.  I'd say that a benevolent
dictatorship approaches a representative democracy
if and only if the subject controlled is not unique
(the GPL gaurentees this).  Thus, if you are in the
project, you've cast your vote for the particular 
leader to be your representative.  Likewise leaving,
is withdrawing support from the given leader. 
Of course, what makes this work, is that you can 
*fork* the project and lead one yourself.  The 
influence of the project on the marketplace is
directly proportional to the number of followers.
Thus, it is *very* much a democracy.  Forking the
project is akin to writing your own legislation.
If people follow, then they agree with the code
written...  

However, it must be said, this *only* works beacuse
the subject controlled is not unique.  Thus the 
organizational form is only valid in an intellectual
domain; in a physical domain you have to *share* and
you can't *fork*.

Best,

Clark


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