Boiling cases down

Boiling Down to

• 1. 1. 1. Identify the most important issue and phrase in in a way that favours your side.

        2. Often a good idea at the end of other speeches - sometimes try to use terms other than “boils down to” e.g. key to the debate, crux, heart, etc.

        3. Always in last 30 - 45 seconds of rebuttal.

        4. What you say depends on the debate but some possibilities are to go with practicality, a commonly held fundamental principle or a desirable consequence (or an undesirable one for them). Another option is to present it as a choice, e.g. we have a choice between holding onto our basic freedoms or abandoning them for a minimal increase in security.

        5. For example

In a debate about criminalizing racist statements, the proposition might have the debate boil down to ”Should racism be tolerated” or “ Should we allow groups to slander people based on their race” while opposition might have the debate boil down to “ Do we want the government to be able to control what we say” or “Do we want confront racist ideas or let them fester outside of public view”

In a debate about increasing funding for the Canadian Military, the proposition might have the debate boil down to ”If we ask soldiers to risk their lives on our behalf, should we give them less than they need”  while opposition might have the debate boil down to  “ Should we cut back spending on education, health, the environment and other priorities in order to buy more military spplies that will never be used”

For each of the following state what the debate boils down to for both sides. You may need to specify a definition.

• 1. We should allow capital punishment

  2. University should be free

  3. There should be exemptions from exams

  4. This House would abolish jury trials

  5. Cell phones should be banned in schools

  6. This House would greatly increase taxes on inheritance 

  7. Canada should establish a national day care system

  8. This House believes that governments should pay parents to have children

  9. This House believes that people sentenced to life imprisonment should be allowed to choose the death penalty instead

  10. This House supports a 35 hour working week

  11. This House would have harsher sentences for celebrity criminals

  12. Canada should ban violent video games

  13. This house should subsidize the development and use of bio-fuels

  14. This House would partition Iraq

  15. This house would use taxation to regulate behavior

  16. School teams should be open to both genders

  17. We should impose a youth curfew

  18. We should ban boxing

  19. Mothers under 17 should not be allowed to keep their children

  20. Politicians' personal lives should not be subject to media attention

  21. We would be happier if we knew less

  22. We should be more selfish

  23. This house would rather be beautiful than intelligent

  24. Three time violent offenders should have life sentences

  25. Young offenders should be tried as adults

  26. This House would try all youth charged with gun offenses as adults

  27. This house supports a mandatory retirement age

  28. Torture of terrorists should be legal

  29. All countries should have a carbon tax

  30. We should ban cosmetic surgery

  31. Holocaust denial should be a crime

  32. Judges should be elected

  33. Taxes should be increased to provide better services

  34. Indigenous people should be punished by their own communities

  35. Use of cell phones, including hands free phone,  while driving should be prohibited

  36. We should significantly reduce copyright protection