Write a 1 page essay on Discussion 5.Your book Chapters 8 and 9 discuss several ways to test the soundness of an argument. Now it is your turn to apply the tests. Go to a website that provides politic

Write a 1 page essay on Discussion 5.

Your book Chapters 8 and 9 discuss several ways to test the soundness of an argument. Now it is your turn to apply the tests. Go to a website that provides political opinion, such as the Huffington Post. Find a brief article that contains a clear argument. Evaluate the argument for its soundness. Link the article at the end of your response by copying its Web address.

Answer: The author highlights the point that congress needs a pay raise so people who arent wealthy can serve by referring to a series of arguments by Rep. Alcee Hasting, such as “the current system doesnt offer enough incentives for less-affluent citizens to enter public service”. The aforementioned argument with unstated premises can be converted into the following syllogism:

Testing the statements for validity by Venn diagram and rules method indicates that the argument is logically valid. However, the evidence presented in support of the premises is rather vague and ambiguous. The annual salary of Congress members is much higher than the median household income in United States. The truth in the prediction that, “20 years out, the only people that will be able to serve in this institution will be people who are wealthy”, is untestable and probably fallacious. In support of the claim, only three staff members had left and that too ‘suspiciously’. The argument is valid logically, but it lacks soundness because of weak and vague evidence in support of the claims (Valencia, 2015. Moore & Parker, 2015).

Valencia, J. (2015, May 19). Rep. Alcee Hastings: Congress needs a pay raise so people who arent wealthy can serve. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from