The Right to Representation

The Swiss will soon vote on whether to offer abused or neglected animals state-appointed legal representation.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,681363,00.html
(Thanks to www.newser.com for finding this story!)

Disenfranchised groups benefit most when their interests are incorporated into the formal architecture of government -- when there is a civil servant or bureau or department on the case. In the U.S., for example, the Children's Bureau played an important role in child welfare policy in the early 20th century. Even more than children, animals are a disenfranchised group -- they don't speak, much less organize or vote -- making institutionalized representation all the more imperative.

Animal welfare is a classic public good -- something we all benefit from without regard to whether we contributed to its production. Left to the free market, public goods will be undersupplied. Government's role is to supply them.

As Zurich's animal-welfare lawyer, Antoine Goetschel, notes: "The changes would acknowledge the importance of human-animal relationships and ensure that the existing law in regard to them is properly applied."

The Swiss are farsighted on this issue, both as a moral proposition and as a matter of political logic.