Self-study
Some argue that because attaining governmental power in democracies requires building majority coalitions, it is a necessary evil that policymakers do not adhere rigorously to principle when dealing with important issues, but rather shift policies as they try to please different constituents at different times. ███ ██ ██ █████████ ████ ████████ ████ ██████ █ █████████ ██ █████ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ██████████ ███ ████ ██ ██ ████ █ ███████ ████ ██ █████
Summary
The author concludes that the fact policymakers don’t stick to principles when dealing with important issues, and shift policies as they try to please different people, is a good thing rather than a bad thing.
Why?
Because that kind of behavior allows a democracy to adapt more easily and serve public interest.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that adaptability of a democracy is a benefit.
The author assumes that the benefit from greater adaptability outweighs the harm from having policymakers not sticking to principles.
12.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████
a
Government policymakers cannot ██████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ████████ ██ █████ ████████ ███████ ██████████
Not necessary, because the argument concerns “attaining” government power, which is not the same as “retaining” power. One is about getting power, the other is about keeping power.
b
Democracies are more ██████ ████ █████████████ █████ ██ ██████████ ██ ████ ████████████ ███ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████████████ ███████
The argument never compares democracies to nondemocracies.
c
In the formulation ██ ██████████ ███████ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ ████████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████████ ██████ █████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ████ █ ████ ██ ██████ ████████ ██ ██████████
Necessary, because if this were not true — if the advantage created by adaptability to public interests does NOT outweigh the harm associated with lack of sticking to principles — then we don’t have any reason to think that the policymakers’ lack of sticking to principles is more of a benefit than a harm. We’d have reason to think that it’s more harmful than beneficial.
d
In dealing with ██ █████████ ██████ ████████████ ██ █ █████████ ██████ ██ █ █████████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ████ █████████ ███ ████████ ████████
Not necessary, because although the argument refers to policymakers who try to please different constituents to build majority coalitions, that doesn’t imply any specific requiremetnts about when they appeal principle and when they don’t. Maybe they can sometimes appeal to principle even if that principle doesn’t have majority support, because the minority that supports the principle cares more about that principle, and the people who don’t support it don’t care as much.
e
Democracies appear to ██ ████ ████████ ████ █████████████ █████ ██ ███████████ ███ ███ ███ ████████ ███
The argument never compares democracies to nondemocracies.