This is how I'd like them to work:
Here's how banishments work...Bear in mind that if you ask them to leave they can still arrange a secession and rebellion, and even if you ban them outright they don't go rogue for three turns. If you can't ban someone you can try exiling them, but here are some problems with exile, including the big one that you can't ban someone who's been exiled. Here are all the ways someone can prevent themselves from being banished. Be aware that banning someone popular can prove dangerous because of a protest backlash.
I don't hold with this idea about people becoming cookie-cutter Council members from these guides. There isn't a one right way to do anything in this game, and people are going to present different options, and every situation is so different that anyone who just goes off these guides will either fail or get the ideas behind them. And if players get the ideas behind the guides...How is that a problem? I direct you to xkcd.
http://xkcd.com/810/
