re: Luft
That Harvard report, which used some very loose methodology, seems to be unkillable.
If Luft thinks any public-connected system will be "insulated from politics," he's a bit naive, but his ideas seem to be worth looking at.
Don't forget to check out the Q & A link in the article.
Here's Luft's website.
A short, "bullet-point" version of his ideas can be found here.