I've never liked the fact that proxy rushes exist - for one thing because it doesn't seem real that a player can create military units 5 tiles from the center of your town just as quickly as he can 5 tiles from the center of his town. There's no population to draw on for conscripts... (it's magic)!
I also dislike them because it seems to exploit the imbalances that exist in favor of civs that are already very "fast" and this contributes to the fact that some civs are virtually unplayble (as Pillars recently mentioned in a post on MFO).
Many of us seem to really enjoy playing without resorting to proxy rushes. Do you think they should be part of the game, or would you be OK/happier if they were programmed out? Voice you opinion.