That moves us away from a pure trustless system built upon a small
democratic foundation (as something of a necessary evil in an imperfect
world where humans run our computers and use our system) and toward a
"democratic system".

You don't have to agree, but I hope you can understand the point I'm
making :-)

Yep, your point is well made.

I don't have much more to say about this proposal specifically, but I think this whole question of what changes are OK and what would be a violation of the social contract will get discussed endlessly over the coming years. Put another way, what do Bitcoin's users expect and want - a system that evolves or a system that remains exactly as they found it? There will be good arguments on both sides, and the answer will probably be different on a case by case basis. But personally I'm skeptical of any argument that argues against change for its own sake. It has to be an argument rooted in a careful analysis of costs and benefits.