Debate writing day again! I promise, Intro to Comm’s day is coming.

In Lincoln-Douglas, our philosopical style of debate, all of our arguments are based upon values — important ideals we can use to guide our thinking. This helps us make sure that debates generate clash, or real conflict between sides. Otherwise, we could take a moral question (for example, “Is it ever right to break the law?”) and shoot off into a million different directions about it. Having a value focuses the debate onto only a few avenues of thought, and forces us to explain why that idea is the most important thing to protect.

The most important values, to me, are:

• Life – you gotta be alive to enjoy any other rights. That’s a bit of a prerequisite…
• Dignity – that life must be respected by others, and is unique and special to me. Other people are unique and special too, as human beings due a measure of respect.
• Societal Welfare – individuals’ well-being in society benefits when the people around them are also doing well, so it’s important to act in the interest of society as a group.
• Duty of Government – as part of the deal of living in a society, that society’s government has a duty to protect us. We pay taxes and give up some freedoms in exchange for some other benefits.

There are a ton of other values, each legitimate and weighted in different situations. If you’re curious about your own values or those of others, I’d encourage you to check out the list at EverydayDebate.