Reply #2: And what do many of these names have in common?

[Democracyinkind]

(among other things...from skimming the list for a minute I've recognized some names...)

Membership in the Pilgrims Society. You know, the people that brought us Empire :-)Gotta love them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrims_Society

Joël van der Reijden has written an article about the political impact of the Pilgrims Society that is highly respected even among us in the republic of letters.

http://www.isgp.eu/organisations/Pilgrims_Society02.htm

There's a membership list there if anyone has the time I'd love to know how many of those 643 names turn up there...

Sorry if this is off topic... I'm going to have a deeper look at your links now!