Rebuttal to Mr. Weisberg's insinuations

[Michael Gersten]

I cannot believe this.

>At 10:50 AM -0500 7/18/97, Peter Veeck wrote:
>
>>1.  "An annual membership fee of $1,000 (US) will be charged to all
>>entities joining ARIN.  Membership is open to any entity/individual
>>wishing to join, regardless of whether the entity/individual receives
>>address space directly from ARIN."
>>
>>This strikes me as a poll tax.  Pay $1000.00 and you can vote.
>
>This is utter nonsense. A poll tax is a tax that must be paid because you
>are alive. It bears no relationship to the ARIN membership fee or to the
>fee which you pay to your movie theater and you can see the movie. Or the
>money you pay to the bartender and you can drink the beer.

** WRONG **.

A poll tax, taken from the old southern days, is when someone who wanted
to vote in the public elections had to pay a tax to vote.

It was not a "Head Tax" -- a tax on being alive.

It was a poll tax -- a tax on having your vote be counted at the polls/
election booths.


>Every corporate entity in the democratic world charges a fee to become a
>member or a shareholder and only members and shareholders can vote. This
>does not translate into a poll tax and your comments betray your total lack
>of understanding of both capitalist and democratic systems.

Right. Every corporation, which is assuming that the only people who
are interested in the corporation are those that make up the corporatio
(the shareholders).

The internet is everyone who uses it. If ARIN is going to represent
the entire north american internet, then that means that everyone
who uses it is interested. Requiring $1000 to vote, when corporations
only require buying one $25-$50 share of stock, is a crazy comparison.

>Because it wreaks havoc on an organization to have the entire board of
>trustees replaced at one point in time.

Does that mean that the House of Representatives is wrecking havok
on itself?

You are right: it is bad to replace an entire board.
That does not mean we cannot VOTE on an entire board.

>Your ignorance is showing. ARIN's structure is quite normal for a
>non-profit corporation. And you spelled the French word "noblesse" wrong.

But is it normal for something that is managing a public good
for the public trust?

>Tough nookies. The essence of democracy is that all citizens *MUST* share
>in governing.

The other essence of democracy is that all citizens *CAN* share in
governing. ARIN starts by saying you must pony up $1000 to share in
governing. ARIN is not a democracy.