Thanks for sharing this @bulleth. I had talked to a few witnesses in the comments section of their posts about this issue - while I am in favour of a strong SBD, I do think that they have a good point for trying to peg it to a dollar in that they are trying to create an economically sound currency that doesn't fluctuate hugely.
I myself am trying to build wealth on this platform, while also getting extremely involved in the community in any way possible. I work full time in ICO consulting, online course creation, now blogging and I also recently co-founded a tech start up. The high SBD value has given me the chance to focus less on monetary work outside of Steemit, and more on work that I am passionate about.
I think that a lot of other people also share this feeling, especially those who are from disadvantaged background - like you said, people are now able to put ham on tables when before they struggled to bring home bread (that is a great way to describe the situation Steemit has awarded a lot of people). Even though I see the value in having a stable currency for the platform, I see more value in a currency that is not pegged to the USD on a 1:1 ratio.
Maybe there is a happy medium that could work. I'm not sure what that happy medium could be, but I think that a lot of users have made it clear that a $1 SBD is not what they want. What I would suggest to witnesses who are for a $1 SBD is that they put together a business proposal of sorts - almost like a mini white paper, where they propose the benefits of the project etc., and those who are against a $1 SBD do the same for their arguement. That way, we can each read through the two PDF documents and give our opinions. I think there needs to be some sort of vote too - @lukestokes pointed out that votes could be rigged, and after looking in to sybil attacks I agree. I'm not sure how a vote could be smoothly done, but I think it would benefit witnesses to actually see how many users are either for or against the idea.
Thanks for sharing this post, and I hope that my input helps! If there is anything I can do to help, I'm all for it - just let me know.
I support this idea with the two PDF documents. Perhaps each side could "elect" a representative, and then the two could battle it out in a civilized text-based discussion?
That sounds like a good idea! Would you be interested in talking more on Discord? I'm sure we could put a proposal together for the witnesses. My username is @lukebrn#3369 if you are interested! Thanks for getting back to me.
Added you.