How decentralized are YOU?

From my first day on the STEEM blockchain it seemed to me that what was being witnessed was a new and interesting branch of blockchain technology - Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS). There had been some reservations about it along the way, yet it dealt with some large obstacles in the technology.

• It brought us one of, if not the, fastest transaction speeds in a no fee transaction blockchain network.

• It allowed us to put a face on hash addresses while still respecting the anonymous tradition of the technology.

• It offered us a governance that relies on the principle that any and all stake holders have the success of the project in mind; even though the vision of success may be seen differently from stake holder to stake holder.

Notice in the above bullet point that it is success of the project which true stake holders should have at the foremost of their intentions.

We have had our crossing of the Rubicon. A more up to date allegory might be that we have blasted off in our Star Ship and warped to where no homo sapien had gone before. At least no blockchain had to date.

Welcome to the Twilight Zone!

It's one of those alternate dimension episodes where things are almost the same but just that little bit different. The Nazi's won the war or something along those lines would shape the plot. One example of our changed world would be the fact hammered home to the STEEM community over the last week or so, that ownership is now ten tenths of the law in this newly charted territory where we have arrived.

• With the installation of HF22.2 the top 20 witnesses targeted selective accounts withholding operations available to all other accounts.

• The account owner retaliated by having three crypto exchanges use clients' STEEM to power up the exchanges' STEEM accounts and vote in witness sock puppet accounts of the targeted account owner so that HF22.5 could be installed which undid the restrictions of HF22.2 on the targeted accounts.

By my way of thinking any discussions about property, ownership, law, jurisprudence, etc., will be matters of degrees at this point.

We have crossed the Rubicon

So how decentralized are you? Do you support the concept? Do you think it's possible? To truly have a decentralized self governing Community?

My feeling is that it comes by steps at a time. Sometimes we have stepped back. We are at the brink of such a step and what a real fork would mean for the project.

The main actors in the present situation of the STEEM blockchain have crossed their respective Rubicons to greater and lesser degrees depending how you're scoring things.

Gloves are off. For those that seek a decentralized community, know that it is under threat. By even those that are in opposition to TRON at the moment. Ask only why something had not been done about Witness Vote Retention to understand that vested interests can drag both heels.

How decentralized are you?

We've seen many movements in recent history flash and bang. Occupy and many of those multi-coloured springs. Let's not let the waking up of this community fade. May we get the witnesses we deserve to move the project further towards decentralization. May we come to a consensus what to do about the Steemit Inc.'s holdings of Ninja Mined tokens. Freeze it, @null it or trust paper promises. Remember the important lesson we have learned in this exercise....

On the blockchain, possession is ten tenth of the law