LR Question 19 Explanation
QUESTION TEXT: Raphaela: Forcing people to help others is morally…
QUESTION TYPE: Point at Issue
ARGUMENTS: Raphael thinks that redistributive taxation is wrong. We shouldn’t force anyone to help others.
Edward thinks that governments do have the right to tax how they want, but only as long as people can leave the country if they don’t like the country’s policies.
ANALYSIS: They disagree on whether governments ever have the right to redistribute resources through taxation.
___________
- Even Edward would say such a policy is wrong if the government doesn’t let people leave.
- CORRECT. Edward says yes. Raphael says governments never have that right.
- Edward doesn’t express an opinion.
- Edward seems to agree that redistributive taxation forces people to help others. But he thinks that is ok as long as people can leave if they don’t like it.
- Edward says yes. Raphael doesn’t say when and if a government should permit emigration.
More Resources for Point at Issue Questions
- Intro Course lesson: This intro course lesson covers Point at Issue questions.
- Mastery Seminar lesson: This LR Mastery seminar lesson covers point at issue questions.
I chose B and see why B is right, but I am a little confused by D. Raphaela clearly believes that redistributing resources forces people to help others (it is the crux of their argument). With Edward though I am a little unclear based on your explanation above. You say that he thinks the government is forcing people to help others, but wouldn’t his statement that people can leave if they want to mean that they are not being forced to help others, i.e. they have the option to leave rather than help others? They have two options: help people or leave, which would imply that they are not being forced to choose either one of those actions.
You raise a good point and I’m not fully sure how to answer it. One way might be to say that if you stay, then you are forced to redistribute, but you also have the option to leave.
For example, suppose someone is married and their spouse forces them to do something. Divorce is always an option, but I think it’s unfair to say the person in the marriage is not forced because of this escape valve. B is a much better answer.
If anyone has a cleaner solution to this I’d be interested to hear it, I don’t feel fully satisfied with this explanation.
Note: This is an old comment but I wanted to clarify the point.
A first I had this same concern. However, I think a good way to think about is that the point of disagreement is about whether the government has the right or not. B addresses this but D does not. D says that they are forcing… but says nothing about them having the right. This is out of scope.