PrepTest 142, Section 1, Question 8
Editorial: Our political discussions tend to focus largely(58 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(7 more words not shown)
- AExamining an individual(19 more words not shown)
- BPolitical discussions that(22 more words not shown)
- CThe workings of(16 more words not shown)
- DAs yet, no(19 more words not shown)
- EConcentrating on the(11 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Why can't we criticize both the leaders and the system that selected them?
A voter might dislike the candidates available. That could make the selection process worth examining. The editorial has a reasonable question about how flawed people reach positions of power, but it goes further and calls attention to the leaders' flaws a pointless distraction.
Why pointless? Studying the system and discussing particular leaders don't obviously exclude each other. We need a reason that the second activity contributes nothing useful to the concern the author identifies.
What we’re looking for
The question asks for an assumption the argument requires. Keep that strong dismissal in view. An answer should identify something the author needs to accept in order to brush aside attention to individual flaws, rather than merely tell us another fact about political discussion.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
What if examining a leader's flaws reveals how the selection system works? Then studying the individual could help answer the very question the editorial calls important. It wouldn't be a pointless distraction from that investigation; it could be part of it.
The argument therefore needs to rule out that connection. A does so by saying that examining personal flaws reveals nothing about how the institutions and procedures select leaders. Deny A, and the editorial loses its basis for dismissing the activity so completely.
- B
The frequency of these discussions doesn't establish their value. They could become more common, less common, or stay equally common, and the author could still make the same argument that they distract from the institutional question. This prediction is not required.
- C
The system needn't select only flawed people. It could produce some excellent leaders and some seriously flawed ones, leaving a real question about how the latter attained power. The argument does not require this absolute claim about everyone selected.
- D
Someone could already have studied the institutions without making further discussion pointless. Perhaps the problem is difficult or earlier work left questions unanswered. The argument doesn't depend on nobody ever having tried to examine the system.
- E
Greater dissatisfaction isn't necessary for something to be a distraction. The discussions might leave people's feelings unchanged while still consuming attention. And dissatisfaction itself wouldn't establish whether examining leaders helps us understand the selection process.
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