Self-paced
Campaign manager: In campaign speeches, our candidate has been reluctant to reveal all the unpleasant consequences of the policies he endorses, but Conclusion this lapse can be justified. █████ ██ ██ ███ ██ ███ ███████ █████ █████ █████ ███████ ███ ██ ██ ███████ █████████ ████ ███ █████████ ███ █ ██████ ██ ████ █████████ █ █████████ ██████ ████ ██ ████ █████████
Summary
The author concludes that our candidates’ failure to reveal all of the bad consequences of the policies he supports can be justified.
Why?
Because it’s important that our candidate get elected in order to implement policies that are helpful. And she can’t get elected by being completely honest.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the benefits that will follow from getting elected can justify failure to reveal all of the bad consequences of getting elected.
2.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████ █████████
a
Ethically questionable acts ███ █████████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ████ █████████████
Ethically questionable acts (such as failing to reveal all bad consequences of one’s policies) can sometimes be justified by their good consequences (such as helping to get one elected, thereby helping to implement a positive policy agenda). (A) helps connect the benefits of getting elected to being justified in failing to reveal all of the bad consequences of one’s policies.
b
It is better ██ ████ █████ ████████ █████████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ █████████ ██ █████████ █████████
(B) arguably undermines the argument, since it would have us prefer failing (not getting elected) over succeeding (getting elected) through unethical measures (not being completely honest).
c
Legitimate ends obtained ███████ ████████████ █████ ██████ █████████████
(C) arguably undermines the argument, because it would have us conclude that obtaining a legitimate end (getting elected) actually becomes illegitimate (unjustified) if it’s obtained through illegitimate means (failing to be completely honest).
d
It is possible ██ ██████████ █████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ████████
(D) doesn’t speak to whether one can be justified in a certain action. Although (D) supports the idea that a candidate who isn’t trusted can still accomplish their agenda, we want to support a conclusion that getting elected through being less than completely honest can be justified.
e
Voters can best ██ ███████ ██ ████ ████ █████████ ████ ████ ███ █████ █████████
(E) suggests that it might be better to let voters know the whole truth. But we’re trying to justify hiding some information from voters.