Reconstruction of Mettler, Our Hidden Government Benefits
Here's my premise-list and paragraph reconstruction of the Mettler article:
Premise List reconstruction
Main Argument
P1: If you're unaware of the benefits you receive from government, you can't form good critical opinions about the size of government.
P2: People are unaware of the benefits they receive from government.
GC: Public discourse about the size and role of government would improve from increased awareness of the benefits we receive from government.
P2 of the main argument is also an IC:
P1: There is evidence that people are unaware of their use of government benefits. (summarize)
IC: People are unaware of the benefits they receive from government.
The author also offers an explanation of the evidence. Our unawareness of government benefits is explained by the fact that they are invisible or submerged in the tax code.
Paragraph Form Reconstruction
In "Our Hidden Government Benefits," Suzanne Mettler argues for the general conclusion that political discussion of the size of government would improve if people were more aware of the benefits they receive from government. Her main argument is that if you're not aware of the benefits you receive from government, you can't form good critical opinions about the size or role of government. She also claims that people aren't aware of benefits received. She supports the second premise of this deductive argument with evidence that people systematically under-report their reliance on government benefits and that this phenomenon varies with political belief. She provides an explanation for this bias by suggesting that government benefits are invisible to us, because we interact with a private company to receive them, or because they are submerged in the tax code.
