PT 37 Section 4, #19. Assumption Question Forum

[LawPlz]

I don't understand why the correct answer is an assumption that the argument depends on. Can anyone help explain it a bit? Thanks

[yoni45]

I don't understand why the correct answer is an assumption that the argument depends on. Can anyone help explain it a bit? Thanks

Well, the conclusion here is that government by referendum diminishes the welfare of society.

Why?

Because when you spread political power equally and widely (referendum being the most "spread out" form of political power), the large scale government projects are less likely to receive funding.

But, there's a theme shift here -- so what if referendum makes large scale government projects less likely to receive funding? What does that have to do with the welfare of society?

What we must assume here, as per (A), is that large scale projects, at least sometimes, actually benefit the welfare of society. If large scale government projects didn't ever benefit the welfare of society, then the reasoning for why referendum screws it up falls apart.

An issue people often have with this question is with connecting referendum to equal distribution of political power -- but that's basically what referendum is, by definition.

Let me know if that helped?

[LawPlz]

Ah, I get it now, thanks a lot!