Paper A

Paper A explores the consequences of voting for someone whose platform you don’t entirely agree with on your ability to feel good about your vote. The enthymeme is, “Voting for one of America’s two major parties, even when you don’t agree fully with either candidate, allows you to defend most of your beliefs, because voting for one of America’s two major parties gives you a greater chance of being represented and heard in the government.” The implicit assumption is that having a greater chance of being represented and heard in the government allows you to defend most of your beliefs.

The goal of Paper A is to get new teenage voters to vote in an election, rather than abstaining from casting a ballot. The audience is teens who are old enough to vote and will be participating in their first election. The argument is made largely using logos.

The author (myself) reasons (uses logos) that by voting for one of the two major parties, the audience makes themselves players in the election. They have a say, and if they can find a candidate that supports the majority of their ideals, they can ensure that the majority of their ideals are represented if said candidate is elected. There are also numbers and figures used; the author uses the example of Ross Perot to illustrate why it is nearly impossible for a third-party candidate to be elected as president. There is a little bit of pathos as the teens are called to action, but as shown, the bulk of this argument resides in logos.

The argument is fairly sufficient; it gives some good reasons to vote either Democrat or Republican, but the reasons are not as well-suited to teenagers as they could be. The argument would be more timely in October (before the presidential election) though there are elections every year the teenagers could participate in. It is also an accurate argument; though there are certainly drawbacks to voting for someone you do not completely endorse, experts would tell you more of a difference can be made through the two main parties. Lastly, especially with the attention politics and the economy are getting today, arguments like this one are especially relevant.