LSAT 119 – Section 2 – Question 09

LSAT 119 - Section 2 - Question 09

June 2005

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT119 S2 Q09
+LR
Point at issue: disagree +Disagr
A
4%
154
B
93%
164
C
1%
150
D
1%
150
E
1%
155
134
142
149
 +Medium 144.676 +SubsectionEasier

Alice: In democracies, politicians garner support by emphasizing the differences between their opponents and themselves. Because they must rule in accord with their rhetoric, policies in democracies fluctuate wildly as one party succeeds another.

Elwell: But despite election rhetoric, to put together majority coalitions in democracies, politicians usually end up softening their stands on individual issues once they are elected.

Speaker 1 Summary
Alice argues that in democracies, policies change wildly between different governing parties. Why does this happen? Because parties get votes by focusing on their differences. They then have to govern based on those campaign promises. This means that each new government will enact very different policies from the previous government.

Speaker 2 Summary
Elwell doesn’t state a conclusion, but implies the conclusion that policy doesn’t change that dramatically between governing parties. Why not? Because whoever gets elected must usually compromise to form a coalition, so actual policies are less extreme than the campaign would suggest.

Objective
We’re looking for a disagreement. Alice and Elwell disagree about their conclusions: whether or not policies wildly fluctuate between governing parties in a democracy.

A
politicians heighten the differences between themselves and their opponents during elections
Alice agrees with this, stating it directly, but Elwell doesn’t disagree. Elwell seems to accept this statement as a fact, focusing instead on actual policy being more moderate than election rhetoric.
B
basic policies change drastically when one party succeeds another in a democracy
Alice agrees with this, and Elwell disagrees: this is the disagreement. This is the conclusion Alice’s argument explicitly supports. Elwell’s argument implies that this is incorrect by emphasizing the factors that make policy more moderate.
C
in a democracy the best way of ensuring continuity in policies is to form a coalition government
Neither speaker talks about how to ensure continuity in policies. Even Elwell, who discusses coalition-building as a factor that does ensure more continuity, never mentions if there might be a better way to do so.
D
most voters stay loyal to a particular political party even as it changes its stand on particular issues
Neither speaker mentions whether voters are loyal or not. Both speakers focus on the rhetoric and behavior of political parties, without spending much time on voters at all.
E
the desire of parties to build majority coalitions tends to support democratic systems
Neither speaker talks about whether political parties’ behavior supports democratic systems or not. Both are only speaking within the context of a democracy, without mentioning what can strengthen or weaken democracy.

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LSAT PrepTest 119 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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