Homo Insanus

Universities (and to a certain extent university towns) are theme parks ... plasticated palaces of ego. Sometimes these palaces are populated by persons so eager to avoid the lethargy of custom that they adopt a commercially expedient form of un-reason. And sometimes, as is the case with Sunstein and Nussbaum, these people go on to advise the President of the united States:

“We could even grant animals a right to bring suit without insisting that animals are
persons, or that they are not property. A state could certainly confer rights on a pristine
area, or a painting, and allow people to bring suit on its behalf, without therefore saying
that that area and that painting may not be owned. It might, in these circumstances, seem
puzzling that so many people are focusing on the question of whether animals are
property. We could retain the idea of property but also give animals far more protection
against injury or neglect of their interests.”

--Cass R. Sunstein, Martha C. Nussbaum. Animal Rights: Current Debates and
New Directions. (Oxford University Press, USA, 2004). P. 11