LSAT 137 | Section 1 | Reading Comprehension: Q23

RC Question 23 Explanation

DISCUSSION: The last paragraph says that Parliament still has omnipotence. The constitutional change in England didn’t get rid of the problem – it just transferred it from King to Parliament.

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1. The last paragraph didn’t mention practical consequences. And actually,the transfer of omnipotence to Parliament did solve the practical problem of high interest rates, even if the theoretical problem of omnipotence remains.
2. CORRECT. The cause is omnipotence. The effects are high interest rates. Transferring power to Parliament got rid of the high interest rates, but the underlying cause (omnipotence) still exists.
3. The passage didn’t say how to solve the problem of sovereignty. It’s implied that it can’t be solved.
4. It was better for power to rest with Parliament. But that’s not because Parliament was elected. Rather, it’s because Parliament represented commercial interests (the middle part of paragraph  5). The same effect could be achieved with an unelected body that represented those interests.
5. This wouldn’t solve the problem. There’s no way to explicitly specify that a sovereign power is not omnipotent. The problem just gets transferred. In any case, the passage never mentions explicitly defining powers. England’s constitution is unwritten. (last four sentences of paragraph 6).