Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

On the Utilitarian Calculus of Ideal Democracy in America

In America, the utilitarian calculus of an ideal democracy is that each person gets one vote on any matter of importance that requires us to vote on it, and after the vote, the majority rules.

We are not living in an ideal democracy.

In the field of mathematical logic, the concept of an ideal can be summed up as the smallest collection of truths that describe the object that one may wish to describe. The initial statement above of what the utilitarian calculus ideally is also happens to be an ideal in its own right: a relatively simple statement that each person gets one vote on any matter of importance that requires us to vote on it, and the majority rules.

The reason why we do not live in an ideal democracy is that there are persons who cannot vote because they are artificial persons. Generally these artificial persons are known as corporations with the ability to own property and to have an interest in profits but without the ability to vote. Two examples of local corporations who don't vote -- but always manage find the money to make campaign or other political contributions, hire lobbyists in Sacramento with visually attractive assets, run daily ads for strictly for name recognition, or pay for other political things far in excess of what most real people can do within their own personal budgets -- are San Diego Gas and Electric Company and Sempra Energy.

Some of us are convinced that these two persons under the law are actually one and the same with altered egos, but that's the topic of other blogs, not this one.

Utilitarianism is an ancient philosophy, meaning that it was around even before the United States became the United States, even as it was the universal legal-philosophical presumption of every last one of our Founding Fathers. The utilitarian calculus was not merely the result of the Revolutionary War; it was the reason fighting the Revolutionary War was worth losing one's life for in the first place. The simple form for deciding if something is ethical in a utilitarian way is to ask oneself if one is doing something that provides the greatest good for the greatest number of people. When most people in a given sovereign state act without calculating in a utilitarian way, then recent history since World War II tells us that is when the rule of law in unstable democracies can give way to the rule of whim by junta or dictatorship.

My argument is that when issues involve the public safety of persons who can vote and of their property, then under the utilitarian calculus of each person getting a vote, any person without the ability to vote does not count, or at least counts for something less than any individual person with a vote. This makes sense especially whenever the non-voting artificial person also happens to be getting a lot of money every quarter out of all of us, real people who can vote but generally have no idea that voting can actually get back some of that massive mound of outgoing money for our common police protection, fire fighting services, parks, libraries, and other civic-minded needful things.

The City of San Diego has a whole laundry list of civic-minded needful things that need doing but can't get done because the city treasury is in the red.

I am hoping that the upcoming State of the City address includes the way to raise the necessary funds for all of those civic-minded needful things that the voters are looking for from our mayor and city council, but in case I don't hear anything, there is an alternate plan in preparation right now, waiting to be blogged by next Monday.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Escondido planners nix office building switch to apartments

Not enough open space, not enough closets for Hickory Street plans

In America, the utilitarian calculus of an ideal democracy is that each person gets one vote on any matter of importance that requires us to vote on it, and after the vote, the majority rules.

We are not living in an ideal democracy.

In the field of mathematical logic, the concept of an ideal can be summed up as the smallest collection of truths that describe the object that one may wish to describe. The initial statement above of what the utilitarian calculus ideally is also happens to be an ideal in its own right: a relatively simple statement that each person gets one vote on any matter of importance that requires us to vote on it, and the majority rules.

The reason why we do not live in an ideal democracy is that there are persons who cannot vote because they are artificial persons. Generally these artificial persons are known as corporations with the ability to own property and to have an interest in profits but without the ability to vote. Two examples of local corporations who don't vote -- but always manage find the money to make campaign or other political contributions, hire lobbyists in Sacramento with visually attractive assets, run daily ads for strictly for name recognition, or pay for other political things far in excess of what most real people can do within their own personal budgets -- are San Diego Gas and Electric Company and Sempra Energy.

Some of us are convinced that these two persons under the law are actually one and the same with altered egos, but that's the topic of other blogs, not this one.

Utilitarianism is an ancient philosophy, meaning that it was around even before the United States became the United States, even as it was the universal legal-philosophical presumption of every last one of our Founding Fathers. The utilitarian calculus was not merely the result of the Revolutionary War; it was the reason fighting the Revolutionary War was worth losing one's life for in the first place. The simple form for deciding if something is ethical in a utilitarian way is to ask oneself if one is doing something that provides the greatest good for the greatest number of people. When most people in a given sovereign state act without calculating in a utilitarian way, then recent history since World War II tells us that is when the rule of law in unstable democracies can give way to the rule of whim by junta or dictatorship.

My argument is that when issues involve the public safety of persons who can vote and of their property, then under the utilitarian calculus of each person getting a vote, any person without the ability to vote does not count, or at least counts for something less than any individual person with a vote. This makes sense especially whenever the non-voting artificial person also happens to be getting a lot of money every quarter out of all of us, real people who can vote but generally have no idea that voting can actually get back some of that massive mound of outgoing money for our common police protection, fire fighting services, parks, libraries, and other civic-minded needful things.

The City of San Diego has a whole laundry list of civic-minded needful things that need doing but can't get done because the city treasury is in the red.

I am hoping that the upcoming State of the City address includes the way to raise the necessary funds for all of those civic-minded needful things that the voters are looking for from our mayor and city council, but in case I don't hear anything, there is an alternate plan in preparation right now, waiting to be blogged by next Monday.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Occupy San Diego Voices Complaints Against SDPD

Next Article

Why I Am Voting “NO” on Proposition 16, Not Needed as a Constitutional Amendment

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader