I was thinking about this for a while and I suspect many others as well. We don't really need icann in the current form. I appreciate your thoughts as they provide insight into ways to go about it that I wasn't thinking much.

What others said, something like a service behind tor, which would be immune to government interference (to a point obviously) and that would provide flexible name resolution. I think you touch on that quite a bit by saying you would give tld to anyone who asks first. I think ability to get name that is yours without affecting others who would like that name is essential.