Critique of “How Can the U.S. Shrink the Influence of Money in Politics?”
Russell Berman’s article in The Atlantic discusses the impact of campaign donations on the democracy of the American republic. The writer uses the technique of answers and questions (A&Q) which inverts the question and answer (Q &A) format with the answers coming before the questions. This method allows the reader to reflect on the critical points of the passage by reading the questions after the answers. The approach also ensures the readers grasps key concepts because the questions guide them on what they should look for in the replies. Finally, the technique divides the article into different focus areas so that readers can quickly locate the parts they are interested in without going through the whole document. Berman uses the innovative method of A&Q which encourages review of crucial points to adequately portray the demerits of campaign funding on America’s democracy.
Berman’s report loosely refers to external sources without adequately citing them which undermines the credibility of the writing. This gap in the citation is most apparent when the writer uses qualitative data like when he purports that Jeb Bush spent 130 million dollars on a campaign without providing the source of the data (Berman). He also alludes to Donald Trump concurring with Bernie Sanders on the corrosive impact of campaign donations without citing the source material. These omissions of supporting material damages the credibility of the article. The statements may or may not be true, but if they cannot get verified, then they remain hearsay. The writer should link borrowed information especially qualitative data to a credible source. This measure ensures readers can check the facts presented in the article and even use them to support arguments. The article loses some objectivity by failing to link sources of quantitative data and therefore is more subjective by relying on the writer’s opinion.
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Berman provides counterarguments to his assertions and possible solutions to the problems raised which minimize biasness of the article. In his counterargument, Berman suggests that the influence of funds in the elections may be exaggerated and gives instances of well-funded candidates failing in politics. Further, he responds to the counterargument by suggesting the size of the elections determines the impact of money on the final results. Also, Berman suggests possible specific solutions to solve the adverse effects of campaign funding on democracy such as restricting the maximum amount individuals can give. These two methods strengthen the author’s argument. Providing a counterargument and arguing against it dispels the reader's skepticism on the validity of the writer's arguments. Further, by offering possible solutions to each specific problem, the writer is portrayed as a legitimately concerned citizen with real goals and not just a writer with an agenda. These methods seem to eliminate the bias of the writer and increase the persuasiveness of the article.
In conclusion, Berman’s article on electoral democracy is innovatively packaged and unbiased despite suffering from unsupported data and assertions. The article’s A&Q method is useful in ensuring the reader grasps the critical ideas in the passage. The use of counterarguments and providing possible solutions to contemporary issues further reduces the bias of the article as it considers multiple perspectives of the situation at hand. However, the author’s failure to link borrowed information to sources makes them unverifiable, and therefore they amount to hearsay. Readers may, therefore, find the article less convincing as the facts cannot be proven. Despite this hindrance, the article is well written, well displayed and relatively unbiased.
Critique of “How Can the U.S. Shrink the Influence of Money in Politics?”. (2023, Feb 17). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/critique-of-how-can-the-u-s-shrink-the-influence-of-money-in-politics/Cite this Page
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