>Years ago, when I was a prof, I taught a class on democracy, and was
>doing James Mill's utilitarian defense of the same; once of his
>arguments is that democracy enables people to get what they want,
>and so to be happier. This was at Ohio State, a fairly conservative
>school. So, I asked, what do people want? More money, education,
>health care, less work. etc. The students filled this in. And yet .
>. . So, what's the problem? Is there something wrong with Mill's
>theory, or is this not a democracy, or what? The students were
>fairly nonplussed by this result.
All those things would be nice, but they're just not "realistic," you see.
Doug