A majority taken collectively may be regarded as a being whose opinion

780gmatpossible

1. Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the passage?

(A) The Tyranny of the Majority

(B) Democracy: Triumph of the People
he talks against democracy

(C) Abuses of Power
this should have had different instances/examples of abuse of power

(D) The Failure of Democracy in the United States
the author doesn't say democracy has FAILED in the US; he points a big drawback of the institution (also this covers partial scope)

(E) Minority Rights
minority rights are only mentioned briefly to make the point about how the majority can get too much power

A covers the entire scope of the passage pretty well.

Hope this helps!

Rid21sa

6. In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with
(A) challenging a commonly held belief
Yes, majority should not be given too much power is argued. Keep.

(B) contrasting two opposing views
Only one view is given

(C) advocating a course of action
No course of action is suggested

(D) reconciling an apparent conflict
Identified a conflict, but no resolution

(E) proposing a solution to an unrecognized problem
No solution is proposed

A looks best

--

Patience delivers.

Posted from my mobile device

Analysis to Question 6.

6. In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with
(A) challenging a commonly held belief - Relatively better but not clear enough. Still, we could pick it. Check this from the first paragraph:"If it is admitted that a man possessing absolute power may misuse that power by wronging his adversaries, why should a majority not be liable to the same reproach?" It's obvious that author is challenging or questioning a view.

(B) contrasting two opposing views - There is no 2nd views and the author is not contrasting. He's just focusing on one view.

(C) advocating a course of action - There is a potential action suggested by the author (for example, last sentence in the first paragraph). But proposing a solution is not the main concern here. The main concern of this passage is to show the issues remaining in the majority tyranny.

(D) reconciling an apparent conflict - There is no conflict and the author is not reconciling.

(E) proposing a solution to an unrecognized problem - There is a potential solution but whether the problem is unrecognized is not mentioned. Also proposing an action is not the main concern since author is trying to list how badly the majority tyranny is and why.

OA to question 3 looks absurdly for me.
I agree, it fits better than any of the other choices. But it is still does not clear and cogent answer.

Shall we think that if it's stated that "When the right and means of absolute command are conferred on a people or a king, on an aristocracy or a democracy, a monarchy or a republic, there has been implanted the germ of tyranny" it clearly leads to conclusion that democracy is at exactly the same position like monarchy or aristocracy? (as in the 3'rd question)
My answer is no.

Despite author gives us clear arguments that american version of democracy (he talks only about american) is not a remedy for tyranny germ, we still can think that:
- another (not american) version of democracy is better that (firstly) american democracy or (secondly) another political regime.
- american democracy is liable to shortfalls, but all another regimes are liable to more serious or even catastrophic shortfalls. Hence american democracy is better that any of the choices.
- another regime, even if stated as a liable to shortfalls, is better than american democracy (why not, author said only about american democracy shortfalls?)

I do not want to talk about politics (GMAT questions require only ordinary knowledge, right?) and to challenge OAs of bygone times (even if I right by my commonsence, my logic is still does not fit to GMAT standards and I do not make my score better this way)
I want just to know what to do in situations like this one.

Thanks!

Can somebody please explain answer to question.no3 as it is clearly stating that democracy is at the same position as aristocracy or monarchy is?

please explain question.no4

Hi sharmashruti2896,

3. With which of the following statements would the author of the passage be most likely to agree?

(A) Democracy is no greater defense against tyranny than is monarchy or aristocracy.
(B) Minority rule would probably be more responsive to the needs of all people than majority rule.
(C) No government should be trusted since all governments are equally tyrannical.
(D) Since one social power must always predominate over others, it is futile to provide checks and balances in government.
(E) To render itself immune to the germ of tyranny, the United States should strengthen its political institutions.

Explanation: can be inferred from the lines: "When the right and means of absolute command are conferred on a people or a king, on an aristocracy or a democracy, a monarchy or a republic, there has been implanted the germ of tyranny.", also "The main evil of the present democratic institutions of the United States does not arise,................which reigns in that country is not so alarming as is the very inadequate security which exists against tyranny.", implying that when absolute command lies with people or the king, it gives rise to tyranny, in turn implication being that tyranny can't be avoided even in a democracy. Some one who has a majority is bound to exploit the power residing with them.


Let me know if this Helps.
Thanks.

Weaken Question:

We need to weaken the conclusion. In the whole passage, the key point that we need to weaken is Majority possessing absolute power may misuse that power by wronging adversaries. In otherwords , we need to find an option that says majority is controlled or majority is not misused as it is reflected in the passage or there can be implanted the germ of tyranny.


C,D and E are easy elimination.
(C) The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution specifically guarantees the right of each citizen to petition the government for redress of grievances.
Majority is not discussed. It is irrelevant to the conclusion.

(D) Even though the United States is not a direct democracy, all U.S. citizens have an equal opportunity to participate in political life and to hold public office.
Majority is not discussed. It is irrelevant to the conclusion.

(E) The framers of the U.S. Constitution had two primary concerns: to prevent the government from exercising tyranny over the people and to prevent the majority from exercising tyranny over the minority.
Concerns doesn’t affect the conclusion.

(A) The framers of the U.S. Constitution deliberately separated the three branches of the government to prevent tyranny.
This option seems close. They did some action that could prevent the end result. So it means that author here wants to emphazise that majority is still not a right thing. If these groups are not seaprted then it may risk tyranny. But our question is to weaken that majority is bad thing . This option doesn’t affect the premises. Hence it can not be the right answer.

(B) There is not a single majority in the United States; there are many majorities, each composed of a different collection of individuals and each acting as a restraint on the others.
Ok, so here it says that Majority is comprised of small majorities. The good point is that because each is acting as restraint on the others, so it means this majority appears to be one but internally they may not be aligned with each other on tyranny. Hence majority is not bad as it seems. It has already checks in place. So the conclusion seems to be weakened with this option. Hence B is the right answer.

Sajjad1994 : Please post official explanation for Q5.

The author's treatment means author tone?
In the whole passage, author is very logical deriving thoughts based on some logic, so C should be an answer?
In the whole passage, I also felt is not it irony that one side getting majority is a big think but at the same time , it gets defeated with small tyranny/small weakness?
I also felt it could be diffident, as author presents his views without attack on anyone or aggressive against.

I choose finally A as the answer.

AndrewN : Please share your approach to solve this question. What if we don't know meaning of some words exactly as I guessed meaning and with POE , I selected A and was found wrong.

Thanks!

GMATNinja IanStewart For Q6 doesn't the passage advocate a course of action? It even says "For these reasons we should not willingly invest any group of our fellows with that unlimited authority which we should refuse to any individual"
Moreover I found it hard to justify "commonly held belief" in the OA. Do you have any advice?

Spent about 2 mins reading the passage.
Para 1: Majority rule not the best thing out there. Shouldn't give groups power that we wouldn't give to individuals.
Para 2: Unlimited power= bad and absolute command in democracy, monarchy, etc has tyranny in it
Para 3: main problem in American democracy is lack of security against tyranny
Para 4: Examples of this lack of security

On to the questions...

1. Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the passage?
(A) Tyranny of the Majority
All the others are too limiting to either democracy or US democracy.

2. Which of the following best paraphrases the author’s statement in the highlighted text ?
(A) Individuals do not change their behavior when they act in concert with others who are likeminded, and, knowing they are acting as part of the group, they are not likely to show greater restraint when opposed than they would if they were acting individually.

I looked at the sentence following the highlighted sentence to infer the meaning of this passage and a bit of process of elimination. The highlighted section also says "...nor does their patience increase..." and this is the only option that says that "they are not likely to show greater restraint..."

3. With which of the following statements would the author of the passage be most likely to agree?
(A) Democracy is no greater defense against tyranny than is monarchy or aristocracy.
B- author does not say that minority is better. Out
C- author says nothing about not trusting ANY government. Out
D- author doesn't say that it's futile to provide checks and balances in government. In fact you could say he/she want their to be an opposing force to balance this "unchecked power of the majority".
E- doesn't say what the US gov't should do

4. Which of the following, assuming that each is true, would most weaken the point that the author is making in the last two paragraphs of the passage?
The last 2 paragraphs say that the US govt doesn't protect people against tyrannical rule and provides some examples of how the majority drives the response in all levels of the government and judiciary.

The only option that would weaken this point is B.
(B) There is not a single majority in the United States; there are many majorities, each composed of a different collection of individuals and each acting as a restraint on the others.

If we know there is no single majority but multiple majorities, then it would weaken the point.
A- framers of the Constitution wanted to separate the 3 branches- I'm sure they wanted that but it doesn't explain the challenge with the majority rule.
C- grants citizens rights to petition but again if the govt is ruled by majority, those petitions may not lead to anything.
D- everyone can participate, great. You could still just have the majority getting elected and we're back to square one.
E- again, framers may have had 2 concerns but it doesn't weaken what the last 2 paragraphs say.

5. The author’s treatment of the topic of the passage can best be described as
(C) logical

Use the process of elimination for this. Deifnitely not ironic or neutral. The author clearly has a point of view. Irreverent is rude and diffident is shy so both out.

6. In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with
(A) challenging a commonly held belief

The author is challenging the commonly held belief that democracy or majority rule is good.
B- not contrasting 2 views. There is no other view discussed.
C- the author isn't advocating any course of action. They simply state how majority leads to absolute power, but they really don't mention how else to go about it. So this is out.
D- The author is not reconciling anything. This would have only been possible is there was another view discussed.
E- author isn't proposing any solution and certainly not to an uncrecognized problem.

For Q6 - from where was it interpreted that majority is good is a commonly held belief
Based on the following summary, it seems author is advocating a course of action and hence option C

Paragraph 1???we should not willingly invest
Paragraph 2???one social power must always predominate
Paragraph 3???the main evil... very inadequate security
Paragraph 4???absurd... no sure barrier

This is a long passage. Took me nearly 5 mints to read this. This is pre 2000s passage. Can someone tell that should we expect such long passages in GMAT now too?

For Q6. "For these reasons we should not willingly invest any group of our fellows with that unlimited authority which we should refuse to any individual" doesn't this suggest a course of action? The author clearly has an opinion. How to elininate c?

Hey TBT,

Yes, this is indeed a long passage. And yes, we do still find passages of this length in the GMAT. Here's an OG'22 passage that's 50 lines long: https://gmatclub.com/forum/in-the-sonor ... 42586.html, 10 lines longer than the passage in this thread.

As a fair estimate, long passages usually have a total of four short paragraphs on average.

Hope this helps.

Abhishek

Hey TBT

Happy to help.



We need to understand this last line in the context of the first paragraph. Note that the first paragraph merely seeks to establish that a "majority" is not different from an "individual". The implication of this last sentence is that we can expect a majority to misuse absolute power, just as we'd expect an individual to.

When we say "course of action", it must be understood in the context of the problem explained and the course of action/solution prescribed to solve that problem. The problem has been defined in the last two paragraphs: the absolute power (tyranny) of the democratic institutions of the United States. (Highlighted below)



However, no solution or course of action has been explicitly prescribed by the author. This is why choice C is incorrect.


Now, let's understand why choice A is correct:

Read the following highlighted lines in the first paragraph...



This rhetorical question in the first paragraph suggests that the author is opposing a commonly held view: that a democracy is always better, more noble, than a dictatorship; that we can expect an emperor/ruler to become a tyrant but not a democracy.

Hence, through this passage, the author challenges this belief. This is why A is the best of the given choices.


I hope this helps.

Happy Learning!

Abhishek

Hi Experts

GMATNinja @VeritasKarishma EducationAisle ChrisLele mikemcgarry AjiteshArun egmat sayantanc2k RonPurewal DmitryFarber MagooshExpert avigutman EMPOWERgmatVerbal MartyTargetTestPrep ExpertsGlobal5 IanStewart
other experts AnthonyRitz

In question 4

Why ans is not E
As far as I can understand we need to find the answer that can tell us that there is no majority is US or Majority don't exercise the power due to some rules of the government
And that's what option E is saying
"(E) The framers of the U.S. Constitution had two primary concerns: to prevent the government from exercising tyranny over the people and to prevent the majority from exercising tyranny over the minority"

I understood how the answer is B but facing difficulty in eliminating option E

Can you please help??