The most important value within today’s round is democracy. Democracy is defined as a system of government by which the whole population or all the eligible members of a state elect representatives. It’s also The practice or principles of social equality
My value is democracy, which is the most important value, so you should vote for the side that promotes the voice of the people and does not undermine it.
Judge, I’d like you to use this standard when making your decision.
My criterion for the following debate is absolute democracy- an absolute democratic society in the people supply the power to those actually in power.
It best achieves my value of democracy because the right of a group of people to organize and elect those in power is the ideal goal, and in order to work toward that goal, you must have a working system. (which include Bias, limitation, and mistrust.)
In affirming the resolution, I offer the following contentions:
Contention 1: The media has done a perfect job of persuading/ influencing the masses to lean toward a two party system. Before even heading to the polls, people have a bias mindset, leaning toward the democratic or republican party. Not even bothering to look for or research the other running parties and candidates. The Hill, and online news source reads, Quote, “The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) requires that candidates poll at 15 percent in five national surveys leading up to the three scheduled debates and that they garner enough spots on state ballots to chart a path to the White House.”(The Hill. 2016) Off quote. If a candidate is not portrayed in the media they cannot become “known”, and therefore they cannot obtain at least 15%, which means they cannot debate, and the media always highlights the presidential debates.
The impact of the a bias mindset affects my criterion (democracy) because democracy is the vote of the people, however if the people’s mindset is 2- party oriented due to the media’s strategies, everyone is geared toward the common goal of electing either a republican or democratic president.
Contention 2: The people are limited in their options for voting because a lot of information isn’t revealed to the public. In the presidential debate, the republican and democratic candidate (which whom are only able to debate because they get 15% in the polls) debate about their policies and beliefs and what they’ll do for the country. However the other candidates don’t get to tell the masses about their own policies. (they don’t have a big public platform).“ The debates between the Republican and Democratic candidates are organized by a private organization called the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), which, believe it or not, is run jointly by the Republican and Democratic parties. In this way, the two parties can cooperate in excluding third party candidates so that they fail to receive any significant attention.” (TheOdyssessy. 2016)
Contention 3: The people mistrust the ability of their voice to be heard because the electoral college’s role in the elections. Keven Bleyer, a contributor to President Barack Obama's speeches states, “No one likes the Electoral College, except perhaps those who were elected because of it.” The electoral college is unfair in the aspects in which leaders can be elected regardless of the people’s voice. The electoral college can provide results in favor of those who didn’t actually win the popular vote- against democracy.
Conclusion: I have shown you that the media can persuade the masses towards a certain vote, the people are limited in their options due to the lack of information given, and the people have a great mistrust in the value of democracy due to the ineffective electoral college system. And for these reasons I conclude that democracy should be upheld and democracy shall not be undermined.
