Q9 - Alice: In democracies, politicians

[tamwaiman]

Since Alice concludes "policies in democracies fluctuate wildly", she agrees with (B), however, Elwell says "politicians usually end up softening their stands", how come he disagree?

Does it means that when politicians end up soften the stands, they don't change drastically?

Thanks.

[aileenann]

Yes, that's exactly what it means! If politicians usually soften their stands, that means they are ready to compromise and/or not go to extremes, which is different from the portrayal from Alice's perspective that governments fluctuate wildly with power changeovers..

Even if you weren't sure of the language, I think you could have confidently chosen (b) by working through the other choices. Invariably you will find that for (a), (c), (d), and (e) not both speakers discussed an issue or both speakers had the same opinion.

It's good to be careful about what the text says, but sometimes you will have to make a teeny bit of a leap, as you had to in this case.

Let me know if you have any follow-up questions or thoughts on this one. Thanks!

[tamwaiman]

Hi aileenann

Thanks for explanation!
But, I have a inconsequent question.
Since you say "changeover", how could I know what they discuss is "retaining one's status" or "party changeover"?
Does the stimulus reveal this information?

[callie44]

For answer choice A), can it be eliminated because Alice probably agrees with it but doesn't specify that this happens during elections; and the text doesn't reveal what Elwell thinks on the topic?

[sumukh09]

For answer choice A), can it be eliminated because Alice probably agrees with it but doesn't specify that this happens during elections; and the text doesn't reveal what Elwell thinks on the topic?

Alice would definitely agree with A and Elwell would probably agree with A as well, but he doesn't explicitly reveal whether he thinks politicians differ substantially in their positions than their opponents.

[bearknowsthetrooth]

I picked A and I'm still not sure why it's wrong. Since Alice says politicians emphasize the differences between themselves and their opponents, and they "must rule in accord with their rhetoric," I took that to mean that pragmatically, the differences are real (and not heightened through rhetoric).

Elwell says "despite election rhetoric," politicians soften their stands, implying that politicians DO heighten their differences.

I narrowed it down to A and B but ultimately eliminated B because I didn't think it was necessarily true. What if politicians soften their stands, but only by a little bit, and party succession still results in drastic policy change?

[sumukh09]

I picked A and I'm still not sure why it's wrong. Since Alice says politicians emphasize the differences between themselves and their opponents, and they "must rule in accord with their rhetoric," I took that to mean that pragmatically, the differences are real (and not heightened through rhetoric).

Elwell says "despite election rhetoric," politicians soften their stands, implying that politicians DO heighten their differences.

I narrowed it down to A and B but ultimately eliminated B because I didn't think it was necessarily true. What if politicians soften their stands, but only by a little bit, and party succession still results in drastic policy change?

They both agree there's election rhetoric, so A wouldn't be something they disagree about. Alice doesn't say the differences are real, she just says they would have to be consistent with their rhetoric after being elected; Elwell says after they're elected they soften their stands on issues meaning they don't necessarily follow their rhetoric conveyed prior to being elected.

B says policies change "drastically" -- Elwell would definitely disagree with this because he says politicians emphasize differences but then soften their stands on these issues so policies wouldn't "drastically" change when one party succeeds another.

Alice would disagree, she says politicians don't soften their stands and rule in accord with their rhetoric thus policies would change drastically (or fluctuate wildly as Alice puts it) when one party succeeds another.