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Here the proposition, “That the people will have their way, because they, and they alone, are the government, is the underlying spirit of our institutions, of our newest state constitutions, and of our progressive laws,” is not only obscure in terms, but it is wholly vague, for it does not define how far the progressive party propose to carry popular direct government.  Until the two sides agree on that point they have nothing definite enough for profitable argument.

It is surprising to notice how often in political debates this fallacy is committed.  It is human nature to believe for the time being that the other side will do the worst thing that the circumstances make possible.  Fortunately, human nature just as constantly refutes the error.

To make clearer this necessity of having a definite proposition to argue, let us take one of the subjects suggested on page 10 which is not yet in a form for profitable argument, and amend it.  “The standard for graduation from this college should be raised,” is a subject that can be discussed, but as it stands it would not be a good proposition for an argument, because it is vague.  How much should the standard be raised?  By what method should it be raised?  These and other questions you would have to answer before you would have a proposition definite enough to be argued with profit.  The proposition could be made definite enough by such amendments as the following:  “The standard for graduation from this college should be raised by requiring one eighth more hours of lecture or recitation in each of the four years”; or, “The standard for graduation from this college should be raised by increasing the pass mark in all courses from fifty per cent to sixty per cent”; or, “The standard for graduation from this college should be raised by allowing no student to have his degree who has fallen below sixty per cent in one fourth of his work, and has not attained eighty per cent in at least one eighth of his college work.”  In each of these cases the proposition is so definite that you could find exactly how many students would be affected.  A proposition which involves a definite body of facts is arguable; one which involves an indefinite and incalculable body of facts is not.

To take another example from the brief we shall be working out in this chapter, the proposition, “Wytown should adopt the commission form of government,” is not definite enough, for there are various forms of commission government, such as the Galveston plan, the Des Moines plan, and by this time a considerable variety of others; and citizens who are at all particular in their voting would want to know just which of these was proposed for their approval.  The proposition, therefore, would have to be limited to, “Wytown should adopt a commission government after the Des Moines plan.”

The exact form of your proposition will not always come to you at the first try.  It may easily happen that you will not see the exact issue involved in the argument until you have gone some way with the processes of analysis which we shall be considering in the rest of this chapter.  Always hold yourself ready to amend your proposition, if you can thereby come closer to the question.