Who standardizes the standardization process? (was: Re: Unsticking rfc28

Dave Crocker wrote:
> [...], I'll nonetheless observe that anyone who 
> actually thinks this sort of change is meaningful is suffering from some 
> sort of underlying disease that is frankly dangerous.
> I'm not criticizing making the change as the expedient it is intended to 
> be.  I'm criticizing the fact that there is a situation in which it 
> serves as an expedient.
I think that kind of danger may become actual harm in the absence of 
suitable expedients, as e.g. in the MARID case that Frank recently 
recalled (http://www.imc.org/ietf-smtp/mail-archive/msg05068.html).
I'm not acknowledgeable in the intricacies of the standardization 
process, but I consider it an exercise in global democracy, and wonder 
if it is any better than traditional territorial-based representative 
politics.