Your post got me thinking and I would argue that all laws are actually social protocols/contracts. In society, I understand that there is this unspoken agreement that if I want to participate in my community and not be punished then I will adhere to some level of social norms and laws. Now if I were to break some of those social norms, say I steal a candy bar from a store, there isn’t actually any built-in mechanism that enforces the law around theft (it’s not like I steal a candy bar and suddenly a cage manifests around me and sends me to prison). Rather it is the duty of my local police force and community members to ensure that I am punished for breaking the law. Laws vary based on a particular geographical region associated with some culture or community and so they are very much social protocols or constructs. I think the debate around No w/ Veto perfectly encapsulates this concept since as a community we are able to give definition to our governance process and use it to hold people accountable.
General feedback.
You guys did a great job pulling in all the various historical context for considering where this debate about No w/ Veto stems from!
“A ‘NoWithVeto’ vote indicates a proposal either (1) is deemed to be spam, i.e., irrelevant to Cosmos Hub, (2) disproportionately infringes on minority interests, or (3) violates or encourages violation of the rules of engagement as currently set out by Cosmos Hub governance.”
I think the definition given here is great and makes the meaning of No w/ Veto very concise with little margin for confusion.
It may not always be correct to invoke the underlying consensus mechanism as justification for the 1/3+ ‘NoWithVeto’ threshold: In particular, consensus can be threatened by one third of the total voting power (i.e., all staked ATOM) while a proposal can be vetoed by one third of the participating voting power (i.e., quorum of 40% of all staked ATOM). Thus the consensus threat requires at least 1/3+ of the total voting power to censor transactions or halt the chain, but a governance proposal can be vetoed by only 13.2% of the total voting power when voter turnout is low.
This part in particular may be my favorite. It’s important to understand that PoS systems DO have a protocol level mechanism for censoring at the consensus layer and that the No w/ Veto option is really just a high level way to achieve a similar end through different means.
All in all, this proposal is great and demonstrates the dedication of various stewards of the Cosmos Hub to their commitment to ensuring process is clear and orderly for all participants.