Foundation Briefs Advanced Level Sept/Oct 2013 Brief
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| Sept/Oct 2013 Topic Analysis Two foundationbriefs.com Page 17 of 104 Topic Analysis Two This month will see debaters tackle a topic largely centered in the moral, philosophical world, but also a topic that is very applicable and relevant to the real world. The resolution does not ground the debate in a particular democracy (i.e. the United States) and uses the crucial word ought to place the debate in a hypothetical question of morality. At the same time, democracies around the world are suffering from low voter turnout and questions about how much authority elected governments can claim as a result. Additionally, one can wonder just how effectively these governments are serving their citizenry if so many of those citizens do not fully participate in the democratic process. On the affirmative side of the debate, the central focus will be on the duties of a citizen in a democracy and whether or not such duties can be justified. Another aspect of the debate will be if requiring voting brings outcomes to a democracy that legitimately outweigh the infraction on liberty (if liberty is impinged at all. When a person agrees to asocial contract, they give up absolute liberty to benefit from a society in terms of security. Part of being in the social contract means accepting duties as a citizen of that state jury duty, military service or the draft, taxes, obeying traffic laws, etc. In each of these cases, the citizen is already being asked to take action that otherwise limits their freedom to act. Certainly, the negative would be ambitious to take on a radical view of libertarianism to the extent that would argue against all of these duties. Indeed, to say that no duties should exist would be to question the social contract and thus democracy under the context of this debate. Therefore, the affirmative’s job is to convince the judge why voting should be added to the list of essential duties in a democracy. The classic conception of democracy sees full participation as crucial to legitimacy of the government and as a necessary act for the full fulfillment of the citizens. In the real world, voluntary voting often leads to the massive underrepresentation of certain groups—particularly the socioeconomically disadvantaged. Without this representation in the polls, it becomes less likely that policies and government spending help these citizens. Instead, the government can become a servant of the elite. This greatly undermines the reality of a democracy. Another angle of debate is the issue of freeloading The idea here is that people should only experience the benefits of democracy if they work to create and maintain it—voting being central to this maintenance. The key will be to create a compelling and consistent narrative to defend voting as a duty. Again, play up the many duties we already accept and require fora functioning society. One final note establish |