Word: argumentativeness
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...Voorhoeve acknowledged the natural advantages of writing—namely the opportunity to craft a well-formed argument in advance—and argued that the hybrid of written dialogue is most effective, citing his interviews with notable philosophers in his book...
...believe the health-care system is presently in less-than-robust condition, the argument that we’ll become less dynamic with change makes little sense. If you take a moment to reflect on the last few years, Brooks’s premise that the unregulated market normally directs capital to the fresh, flourishing, and socially productive doesn’t seem entirely truthful. Indeed, we’ve seen throughout the economic crisis that unregulated capital is often prone to fall to the aged, entrenched, and socially disconnected...
...argument that American vitality will diminish if we pass the health-insurance bill is ultimately not only misleading, but also dangerous. When we wedge complicated issues between incompatible moral principles, we often drift further from pragmatic reform. There is no doubt that the health-care debate is just as much about values as dollars, but reducing the values debate to a pleasant, soothing dichotomy only solidifies the status quo. Claiming we can’t currently circumvent a tragic choice only postpones the change we need...
Perhaps worst of all, the “vitality vs. security” argument masks a certain, purposeful interdependence in America, especially between generations. Democracy works on the premise that the social contract spans eras. Today’s young provide some protection for those who sacrificed in the past, and today’s elderly maintain a duty of active stewardship for those who will come in the future. There are live wires between us, and to describe the American contract of caring for citizens of other generations as a mere siphoning process, as Brooks does, is to cheapen...
...make Americans safer; after all, al-Qaeda's leadership is in Pakistan, not Afghanistan, and recent history shows that terrorists can plot and strike in Moscow and Madrid and Mumbai regardless of whether or not they have a safe haven in Afghanistan. The second problem with the national-security argument is that it is rhetorically defensive - it defines the U.S. mission in Afghanistan in terms of what American troops are fighting against, but provides little sense of what the country is fighting for. (See what to watch for in Obama's Afghanistan speech...