Background:

11 years of debate and coaching experience
College National BP Debate Champion

K's, topicality, and spreading are all open. Questions of topicality and evaluation of Kritiks will be judged first by their relevance and will not be considered valid if used as a means to avoid a valid debate.

Paradigm: Policymaker, Hypothesis, Games

First and foremost, all debate is an educational activity designed to become a coordinated and collaborative discussion in which both sides are competing to form a better understanding of a given issue, plan, philosophy, or outcome. By that standard, the best teams are the ones that can beat the best possible versions of their opponents. Little to no weight is given to strawman attacks against their opponent which does little to prove the strength of one's own argument. Additionally, respect will always matter more. No team will be punished for being passionate, unique, raising their voice, or "aggressive." However, teams that are disrespectful and rude towards their opponent will be noted by their lower speaker points and potential faults in their argumentative/persuasive ability.

I care first about the comparatives and their collective balancing. 1 positive argument by its own weight can potentially be more persuasive than 3 dropped negative arguments. As such, a dropped contention is persuasive but not condemning. Arguments which turn an argument against itself or its principle are particularly persuasive. You are not debating the judge. Each idea will be given its own merit and credit, however, I am not entirely tabula rasa and will not grant an idea inherent credit simply because it was said in passing. Teams that attempt to unnecessarily narrow/skew the debate either topically or definitionally will be noted as having run from the most important facets of the entire activity. I encourage each side to attempt to take their opponent at their best and the team that contributes to the collective and cooperative discussion best will be the team that wins. No idea is considered facially invalid except those fundamentally relying on bigotry. Use debate as an opportunity to test your persuasive ability and argumentation. When appropriate, it is entirely valid to work towards, imagine, establish, or critique a hypothetical context so that an argument can be weighed in its proper setting.

Principled argumentation is highly valued. Policy is characterized first by the principle or philosophy which justifies the action. Failing to uphold that principle, or simply not having a foundational philosophy, will weaken your stance to complete dependency on your ads and disads. Impacts are weighed on their likelihood as well as their significance. Nuclear war, if poorly linked, means very little. 1 person suffering all the torment of the world means quite a lot even if the scope is small. Taking hardline stances is encouraged as you test conventional wisdom, assumptions, and biases, and will not be held against the team that does so. Overall, cases should not be two ships passing in the night attempting to fire ads and disads at one another. They should be principled and each at the heart of the discussion asking "Why are we talking about this?" The two ships should crash into each other and the better ship is the one still floating.