Voters commonly condemn politicians for being insincere, but politicians often must disguise their true feelings when they make public statements. If they expressed their honest views—about, say, their party's policies—then achieving politically necessary compromises would be much more difficult. Clearly, the very insincerity that people decry shows that our government is functioning well. Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines this reasoning? (A) Achieving political compromises is not all that is necessary for the proper functioning of a government. (B) Some political compromises are not in the best long-term interest of the government. (C) Voters often judge politicians by criteria other than the sincerity with which they express their views. (D) A political party's policies could turn out to be detrimental to the functioning of a government. (E) Some of the public statements made by politicians about their party's policies could in fact be sincere. Insincere Politicians Step 1: Identify the Question The word undermines indicates that this is a Weaken the Argument question. Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument V: P insincere P must hide feelings Else diff to compromise Ó Insincere à gov functioning well Step 3: Pause and State the Goal On Weaken questions, the correct answer makes the conclusion less likely to be valid. Often on Weaken questions, you will want to attack gaps in the logic of the argument. Do you see any gaps between the premises and conclusion? Step 4: Work from Wrong to Right (A) CORRECT . The premise says that disguising true feelings is needed for compromises, while the conclusion says that insincerity shows that the government is functioning well. These are not the same thing. If things other than compromises are also necessary in order for a government to function well, then the ability to achieve compromises, by itself, does not mean that the government is functioning well overall. (B) The argument states that political compromises are necessary. For this to be the case, not all political compromises need be in the government’s best long-term interest. Moreover, the relationship between a government functioning well and long-term interests is not clear; these two ideas are not necessarily the same thing. (C) The argument states that insincerity is a criterion voters consider. The fact that voters consider other factors as well does not influence the conclusion drawn about insincerity. (D) The conclusion relates to whether compromises promote the functioning of the government. Whether some policies may not help in this functioning does not directly relate to the conclusion. (E) The fact that some statements may be sincere does not diminish the premise that politicians may still be insincere in certain instances. Argument Evaluation Situation Politicians must often make insincere public statements because expressing their true feelings would make it harder for them to achieve politically necessary compromises. Reasoning What would suggest that the argument's premises do not establish that politicians' insincerity shows our government is functioning well? The implicit reasoning is that insincerity helps politicians achieve politically necessary compromises, and these compromises help our government to function well, so insincerity must show that our government is functioning well. Evidence that these necessary compromises do not ensure that our government functions well would undermine the argument's reasoning, as would evidence that politicians' insincerity has other substantial effects that hinder the government's functioning. (A) Correct . If governments may function poorly even when insincerity allows necessary political compromises to be made, then the argument's premises do not establish that politicians' insincerity shows our government is functioning well. (B) The argument does not require that all political compromises help government to function well, only that politically necessary compromises do. (C) Even if voters often judge politicians by criteria other than their sincerity, they may also often decry politicians' insincerity, not realizing or caring that such insincerity helps the government function well. (D) Even if a political party's policies impair the government's functioning, politically necessary compromises by politicians in that party could improve the government's functioning. (E) Even if politicians sometimes speak sincerely about their party's policies, their general willingness to be insincere as needed to achieve politically necessary compromises could be a sign that the government is functioning well.

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Voters commonly condemn politicians for being insincere, but politicia

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Will2020

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30 Jun 2020, 16:47

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Am not able to eliminate option D. Please help

Hello, warrior1991. In my mind, option (D) can easily be eliminated with a careful reading of the conclusion and a quick comparison.

Quote:

the very insincerity that people decry shows that our government is functioning well

D. A political party's policies could turn out to be detrimental to the functioning of a government.

Since when are insincerity and policies the same thing? The former has to do with intent, while the latter has more to do with a credo. Furthermore, the could-be-true condition of (D) is a trap. If something could turn out to be detrimental, then it also could not. The verb tense shows uncertainty. In short, choice (D) does nothing to weaken the argument, since it broaches a separate concern and hinges upon a not-necessarily-true outcome. If it helps, you could reframe the conclusion using the information from the passage:

the very insincerity that people decry, insincerity that politicians must use to achieve politically necessary compromises, shows that our government is functioning well

I hope you will agree that the content of political policies has nothing to do with the above argument. If you have further questions, though, feel free to ask. Thank you for thinking to tag me.

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MentorTutoring VeritasKarishma Regarding (D), if the AC was rephrased as: A political party's policies IS detrimental to the functioning of a government. Would it be right? If party's policies IS detrimental, then wouldn't be wise for politicians to be honest? Tks!

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Hello, Will2020. No, the proposed change (which would need to be are to agree with policies) would not affect the argument being made at all. The reasoning is based on insincerity and its role in achieving politically necessary compromises, not on political policies themselves. VeritasKarishma has done a fine job detailing why (D) misses the mark, and I asked a rhetorical question on the matter at the beginning of my earlier response on (D) as well. You have to be careful in CR questions to follow the linear logic of the passage and choose an answer that falls in line with that reasoning. Otherwise, you will find a way to justify just about any answer, and then CR will be nothing more than a guessing game.

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The option A looks strengthener to me :

(A) Achieving political compromises is not all that is necessary for the proper functioning of a government.

It accentuates that political compromise is one of the factors, if not all alone a self sufficient factor, for proper functioning of the government. If the government is san political compromises, then obviously it must not be functioning well.

Any insightful thought of this interpretation (or misinterpretation as it OG question)?

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abhishekmayank

Focus on the keywords or intent of the conclusion:

Conclusion: A is the only way B works.
What will weaken it? If you say that B can work in another way C too.
We are not saying that A is not the way. We are saying that A is not the only way.

Conclusion: A is sufficient to show B.
What will weaken it? B needs other things too.
We are saying that A is not sufficient. It may be necessary but it is not sufficient.

Conclusion here: Insincerity shows that our government is functioning well.
You can weaken it by saying that just insincerity does not show that our Govt is functioning well. You need other things too.

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I am not sure but isn't D a strengthener here because we are saying that policies could be detrimental to the functioning of govt (probably because they cannot get compromise); so they must not be honest about it all the more because if they are detrimental and they are being honest about it, then definitely they will not get the necessary compromise.

Also I am bad with politics and I do not understand how this is working- which compromise is being referred to? Who will compromise with whom? How will any compromise be beneficial to anyone? How will being honest/ dishonest about it lead to any compromise? Why does member of A political party have to express honest opinions about them? MartyTargetTestPrep GMATNinja KarishmaB ThatDudeKnows avigutman

If you can explain by taking a case of 2 parties A and B and taking n example of such compromise/ policies, that may help

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Conclusion: insincerity shows gov't functioning well
Premise: honesty would make compromising difficult
So, insincerity-->compromise-->gov't functioning well

Answer choice A does a good job of breaking that last arrow, so I hope you're comfortable that A is the right answer.

Okay, now for your questions.

First, a disclaimer: I can't caution you enough about spending too much time in the rabbit hole that is "what if the question asked __." Trying to figure out whether an answer choice on a weaken question would qualify as a credited response if we were instead asked to strengthen is a variation of that. People love to do this analysis, and I think it usually just distracts from the REAL take-aways from a question. My suggestion is never to do it.

That said, here's a little discussion on D.

If you need to go through as many steps in a logical progression as you did in your explanation (and especially if your explanation includes the word "probably"), I can all but assure you that you've got the wrong answer choice. GMAC asks us to follow logical progressions, but keep in mind that with each step along the path (unless the steps are rock solid), the path gets a little shakier. Too many steps ends up with a very shaky path, and that's not what GMAC is after.

I don't agree with your path on D. If a policy is detrimental but I'm able to get it enacted by compromising with you, such that you support my detrimental policy in exchange for me supporting whatever it is that you want, then my detrimental policy won't result in the government functioning well, and government functioning well was our conclusion. But just because some policies could be detrimental, that doesn't show that government isn't functioning well. Maybe the detrimental policies won't get enacted for some other reason aside from the honesty/insincerity bit. As above, though, I'd get out of this rabbit hole and move on to a different question!

As for politics, generally, perhaps the second sentence of the preceding paragraph helps clarify how GMAC was using the concept of compromise in politics?

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Hi avigutman - what if (A) was saying this instead

Quote:

(A-original) Achieving political compromises is not all that is necessary for the proper functioning of a government.

(A-variant) Achieving political compromises is not ~~all that is~~ necessary for the proper functioning of a government.

I believe (A-variant) too would weaken the argument.

If Achieving political compromises is NOT NECESSARY for the proper functioning of a government - i think that would weaken the conclusion

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jabhatta2

Hi avigutman - what if (A) was saying this instead

Quote:

I believe (A-variant) too would weaken the argument.

If Achieving political compromises is NOT NECESSARY for the proper functioning of a government - i think that would weaken the conclusion

Agreed. jabhatta2. The argument assumes that the proper functioning of a government requires only political compromises.
(A-original) weakens that assumption directly.
(A-variant) weakens that assumption as well (arguably even more so than (A-original) does.)

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I still don't understand how option D is wrong.
Let me explain how I think of option D.
The conclusion says that the insincerity is sign of wel functioning Government.

And option D says that the government policies could turn out to be detrimental to functioning of the government. In this scenario if the politicians stayed insincere and the bad policy is passed then the functioning of the government will be compromised and thus we can say because the politicians stayed insincere the government is not functioning well and thus weaken the argument that insincerity is not good for the functioning of the government.

Please tell me what mistakes have i made in coming to this conclusion because I cannot see in which way this option could be wrong and thank you in advance

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Danish234

I still don't understand how option D is wrong.

Let me explain how I think of option D.

The conclusion says that the insincerity is sign of wel functioning Government.

And option D says that the government policies could turn out to be detrimental to functioning of the government. In this scenario if the politicians stayed insincere and the bad policy is passed then the functioning of the government will be compromised and thus we can say because the politicians stayed insincere the government is not functioning well and thus weaken the argument that insincerity is not good for the functioning of the government.

Please tell me what mistakes have i made in coming to this conclusion because I cannot see in which way this option could be wrong and thank you in advance

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To see why (D) is wrong, let's start by breaking down the passage.

The argument concludes that "the very insincerity that people decry shows that our government is functioning well." In other words, the fact that politicians are behaving insincerely demonstrates that the government is functioning well. Why? Because sincerity would make necessary political compromises more difficult.

Let's now consider (D):

Quote:

Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines this reasoning?

(D) A political party's policies could turn out to be detrimental to the functioning of a government.

Does this weaken the conclusion that insincerity shows that the government is functioning well? Well, that would require a few leaps.

First, we'd need to assume that compromise allows a political party to enact its policies. Yet we really don't know if that's the case -- perhaps compromise would impede a political party from enacting its policies, since they might have to settle for some compromise that was different from their preferred policy? Either way, we don't have a direct link from "compromise" to a party enacting its policies.

Second, we'd need to assume that the enacted policies actually are detrimental. But notice the argument only says the policies "could turn out to be" detrimental -- not that they are always detrimental.

For both those reasons, (D) does a pretty weak job of undermining the reasoning, and we can eliminate it.

I hope that helps!

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jabhatta2

Hi avigutman - what if (A) was saying this instead

Quote:

I believe (A-variant) too would weaken the argument.

If Achieving political compromises is NOT NECESSARY for the proper functioning of a government - i think that would weaken the conclusion

avigutman , Actually I disagree Avi.

The conclusion is essentially political compromises show (are sufficient for) the well-functioning of a government. This doesn't mean that they have to be necessary. They could be not necessary and sufficient at the same time. (Maybe there are other ways of making a government function well without any political compromises). But if they were not all that is necessary (original option-A), this effectively means that they are not sufficient and so our conclusion is weakened.

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@PReciSioN The argument is completely lacking any connection between the difficulty level of achieving politically necessary compromises and the proper functioning of a government. That connection is assumed. So, any answer choice that undermines that connection is undermining the reasoning.

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Hi experts KarishmaB GMATNinja

Can we reject option C on the basis of following reasoning?
"Voters often judge politicians by criteria other than the sincerity with which they express their views."
Others factors = Z
In a nutshell, option C means that voters also consider Z for their opinion on politicians and ultimately, the well functioning of government.

The conclusion says that X leads to Y where X is "insincerity that people decry" and Y is "government is functioning well", this means that X is sufficient for Y.

By knowing that Z can also lead to Y doesn't affect out confidence in the conclusion X --> Y.
Please correct me if my logic is wrong somewhere.

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agrasan

Option (C) is incorrect because it is irrelevant. Our argument is discussing what shows the govt is functioning well.
Option (C) talks about how voters judge the politicians, on what basis. That is irrelevant. We are not interested in the opinions of the voters. The first line of the argument mentions it only to introduce the topic. The actual argument is not about that at all.
The point is whether the politician's insincerity (taken to exist) shows that the govt is functioning well.

Focus on the crux of the argument to save time in CR.

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Voters commonly condemn politicians for being insincere, but politicians often must disguise their true feelings when they make public statements. If they expressed their honest views—about, say, their party's policies—then achieving politically necessary compromises would be much more difficult. Clearly, the very insincerity that people decry shows that our government is functioning well.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines this reasoning?

(A) Achieving political compromises is not all that is necessary for the proper functioning of a government.

(B) Some political compromises are not in the best long-term interest of the government.

(C) Voters often judge politicians by criteria other than the sincerity with which they express their views.

(D) A political party's policies could turn out to be detrimental to the functioning of a government.

(E) Some of the public statements made by politicians about their party's policies could in fact be sincere.

Weaken the conclusion

CONCLUSION: Clearly, the very insincerity that people decry shows that our government is functioning well.

This shows that insincerity -> Achieving politically necessary compromises is sufficient to prove that government is functioning well, but is it?

(A) Achieving political compromises is not all that is necessary for the proper functioning of a government.
If this is true, it shows that political compromise is one of the necessary conditions and is definitely not sufficient. Keep.

(B) Some political compromises are not in the best long-term interest of the government.
Well, others are so it doesn't really impact conclusion. Irrelevant. ELiminate.

(C) Voters often judge politicians by criteria other than the sincerity with which they express their views.
Cool, but does it impact the conclusion? No. Eliminate.

(D) A political party's policies could turn out to be detrimental to the functioning of a government.
A political party could, even if these are true, it doesn't affect conclusion. ELiminate.

(E) Some of the public statements made by politicians about their party's policies could in fact be sincere.
Ok, does it affect the conclusion? No. Eliminate.

Correct answer: A

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