Wednesday's talk reminded me of the insanely slow and difficult process of government. It is always a uphill battle to voice your opinion and a struggle to make any kinds of serious reform. The fact that Prop 2 had finally passed is a great achievement in and of itself, though of course, the terms were not as stringent as most activists would have liked.
Reflecting on these issues of concern reminded me of the conflict between rights activists and utilitarian activists.
When I read the articles out of our Animal Ethics book, there are many times when it's easy for me to say, "we have to focus on the individual animals and not group them all together and assume the same details for each and every one." In an idealistic way, I completely understand rights activists and support them. But listening to Dara speak reminded me of how inevitable utilitarianism is. In government, there are rarely individuals. Each member of congress, every judge, every mayor... they all speak for more than themselves. They represent our country, and make our decisions for us. While we know our president by name, his actions do more than represent himself, they represent our country.
So it stands to reason that since it is impossible to have individual human animals represented in government, that is it impossible to have individual nonhuman animals represented in government as well. While this makes it harder for rights activists to get their points across, it is the only way our country can function without becoming a collective anarchy.
I am not saying this to dishearten or look down on rights activists. They believe strongly in what they do and hold to their values, which is highly commendable. But I do think that understanding the intricacies and inevitabilities our of government could strongly help them in finding a louder voice.
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