Affirmative Debate Case

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Affirmative Case “Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.” It is because I agree with Franklin D. Roosevelt that I uphold today’s resolution. I stand firmly resolved that “In a democracy, voting ought to be compulsory.” The value I will be upholding in today’s debate is Government Legitimacy. Government legitimacy is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. The person who wins today’s debate will be the person who upholds the criteria of adequacy. Before I begin to present my arguments, I’d like to define a few terms in the resolution for the sake of clarity. Democracy- “A form of government in which the people have a voice in the exercise of power, typically through elected representatives” (Concise Oxford English Dictionary, http://www.wordreference.com/defintion/democracy ) Ought- “Used to express justice, moral rightness, or the like” (Dictionary.com) Compulsory- “Required by law or a rule, obligatory” (Concise Oxford English Dictionary, http://www.wordreference.com/defintion/compulsory ) I now offer the following three contentions: First, Compulsory voting sends a message that every vote matters. Secondly, compulsory voting is essential for a government to meet the need of its citizens. And finally, it’s just one of our duties as a citizen. Now, let’s return to my first contention; compulsory voting sends a message that every vote matters. When we have a low voter turnout we have those few deciding what our next few years will be like, and we are only listening to the minority of what all the people have to say. We have those few, in a sense; dictate what is going to happen. If we have everyone mandated to vote, we hear the whole truth of what everyone wants in government. We hear

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