The Old Prospector

Hello to the class from the old prospector... I just want to assure you all that I know a good deal about Public Choice Economics. In fact, I found an interesting link on vote motives by Tyler Cowen, of Marginal Revolution. His ideas on voting are here. One interesting argument that Cowen offers to justify voting is that voting may be "rational" in a non-standard long run sense: Most moral judgments reflect some mix of estimated marginal and average products, not just marginal products alone. In part morality means the ability to take a longer-run, universalizable, or more rules-based perspective. So you need not feel guilty if the economist tells you not to vote. Maybe you are not rational in one sense of the word, but surely having a disposition to be moral can be justified. My take: If voting is "rational" because your perspective is of a longer horizon, what other types of behavior might we assume are rational in this sense? Pickled Peaches!! Where does this idea of rationality lead us??