Ben, I'm sorry to see you have spent such a long time writing up reasons for changing this behaviour. I fear this is a total waste of your time, and ours to read it. Python 2.7 is under feature freeze, and changing the behaviour of str.encode and unicode.decode is a new feature. So it could only happen in 2.8, but there will never be a Python 2.8.

If you want more sensible behaviour, then upgrade to Python 3. If you want to improve the docs, then suggest some documentation improvements. But arguing for a change in behaviour of Python 2.7 str.encode and unicode.decode is, I fear, a waste of everyone's time.

If you still wish to champion this change, feel free to raise the issue on the Python-Dev mailing list where the senior developers, including Guido, hang out. I doubt it will do any good, but there is at least the theoretical possibility that if you convince them that this change will encourage people to migrate to Python 3 then you might get your wish.

Just don't hold your breath.