I might be wrong, but wouldn't taking powers previously only usable by a relative few and allowing a great deal more people to have them, tend to democratize things?
Are you suggesting an automatic way of granting sysop status? If so, I like it.
No, what he suggested (and with which I agree, though I'm not quite sure how to implement it yet) is a third status in between J. Random Anonymous user and sysop, which will be able to edit protected pages and use the "move" function, and which will be automatically given to someone who hangs around for a while.