I think that this is a great public forum topic: it relates to a current event that will educate students on some of the nuanc
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Lesson 4.2 Day 3
| 13NFL1-Compulsory Voting Page 44 of 163 www.victorybriefs.com arguing that individuals who are more affected by an election have a stronger stake in the election process, and under a voluntary voting system affected individuals would have a strong incentive to turn up and vote, while nonvoters wouldn’t have the same incentive. Aside from these general positional clashes, negatives might consider running counterplans to the affirmative advocacy. For instance, Saunders argues that a presumption against coercion means that amorally preferable alternative to compulsory voting would be incentivizing people to turnout by offering them financial incentives like tax breaks. The arguments I have just outlined are certainly not the be-all end all of topical arguments to make in debate rounds on the September/October topic, but as stock, middle-of-the-road arguments they should be a good reference for general turns and responses to make to most middle-of-the- road positions. I’m sure you’ll hear many if not all of these arguments in rounds over the next couple months. However, in conclusion I’d like to turn to a discussion of framework, in particular what affirmatives need to consider in framing their ACs. Plenty of debaters will recycle generic frameworks, but I would suggest you view this topic as an opportunity to delve into some topic specific framework literature on the ideals and obligations of a democratic state. Not only will other debaters be less able to respond to a unique, democracy- centric framework, but you’ll probably enjoy the reading. Also, this kind of literature is crucial to writing good papers for your gov classes in college, so you’ll get a good leg upon the competition. However, if your framework appeals to the value of democracy you need to make it very nuanced otherwise superficial turns will link in. Over the course of this topic analysis I’ve made reference to a number of different democratic ideals, among them egalitarian freedom from coercion, majority rule, equal representation and informed deliberation. In order to dominate framework debates on this topic you will need to be able to weigh between them. Delving into possible ways to compare between the importance of different democratic ideals is beyond the scope of this essay, but hopefully the following list of questions will help guide your preparation and thinking as you get ready to win framework 1) Are best-interests relevant to democratic decisions, or only expressed self-interest of citizens 2) Are better-informed decisions de jure better than uninformed decisions, or only presumptively better |