Self-study
Editorial: Our political discussions tend to focus largely on the flaws of our nation's leaders, but we need to remind ourselves that these leaders were chosen democratically. ███ ████ ████████ ████ █████ █████████ ██ ███ ███ ████████ ████████████ ███ ██████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ █████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ █ █████████ ████████████
Summary
The author concludes that focusing our attention on the flaws of our leaders is a pointless distraction.
Why?
Because the question we should be focused on is how our nation’s institutions and procedures enable flawed people to become our nation’s leaders.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that focusing on the flaws of our leaders does not help us discover how they were able to become leaders of our nation.
8.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ ████████ █████████
a
Examining an individual ████████ ████████ █████ ████ ███ ██████ ████████ █████ ███ ███ ████████ ████████████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ██ ████████
Necessary, because if it were not true — if examining an individual leader’s personal flaws DOES reveal something about how the nation’s institutions and procedures influence the selection of leaders — then we have no reason to think that it’s “pointless” to put attention on the flaws of our leaders. Understanding those flaws can help us answer what the author calls the “real question that needs answering.”
b
Political discussions that █████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████████ ███ ██████████ ███ ███ █████████
Not necessary, because the author’s argument doesn’t involve a prediction about what kinds of discussions will become more common in the future.
c
The workings of ███ ████████ ███████ ████████████ ███ ██████████ ██████ ████ ████ ██████ ███████████ ████ ██████ █████████ ██ ██████
Not necessary, because the author never suggests that “only” flawed people come to power or that our institutions and procedures “ensure” that flawed people come to power. The argument’s reasoning isn’t undermined if it turns out that some of our leaders are not flawed. The author would still say that it’s pointless to focus attention on the flaws of the leaders who are flawed.
d
As yet, no ███ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████████ ███ ███████████
Not necessary, because the author’s argument doesn’t rely on any claims about what people have tried to do in the past.
e
Concentrating on the █████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ ███████ ███████ ███████████████ ████ █████ ████████
Not necessary, because the author’s argument doesn’t rely on any claim that concerns the feelings of our nation’s leaders.