I understand that the incentives are all generally aligned -- to make DASH go higher in value. But that doesn't keep people from voting to give money to themselves or their friends.
Basically,with all of this talk of Governance, Dash is turning itself into kind of a corporation. The MN owners are like stockholders, and the big MN owners (hundreds of MNs) are like the Board of Directors.
How is that so different from Bitcoin ? In bitcoin, miners will vote with their mining power in a way that gives money to themselves or their friends. Blockstream will vote with their political and economic power in a way that gives money (and power) to themselves. etc...
You don't need a node to be a stockholder, any token holder is a form of stockholder. The same applies to bitcoin or any crypto.
In all cases, all networks are organised and governed by their constituting organs : token holders, nodes, miners, developers, ...
This is true for ALL cryptos.
We are now starting to discover that the organisation of a crypto is important and the rewards and powers have to be allocated in a harmonious way that maximises the value created by the Network.
When the self-interest of all parties aligns properly with the network's interest, you have a winning network.