Disadvantages

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Disadvantages

• Iowa Novice Network
• Pete Clancy- pclancy_at_cr.k12.ia.us

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Overview

• Terminology
• Lesson Plans
• Specific Examples on the Topic
• Questions

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Terminology

• First of all, the confusing stuff
• On-Case Arguments (Stock Issues)
• Off-Case Arguments (Plan)
• Shell

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Terminology

• Disadvantage
• The plan causes something terrible to happen.
• Shorthand Disad or DA

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Terminology

• Parts of the Disadvantage
• Uniqueness (U)
• Link (L)
• Internal Link (IL)
• Impact (!)

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Terminology Uniqueness

• Shows that everything in the status quo is okay
• If this is true, the DA is unique
• DATE IS EVERYTHING WITH UNIQUENESS
• Example Obama is winning the election now.

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Terminology Link

• Passing the plan changes the status quo in a
  particular way.
• Example Republicans take credit for the
  affirmative plan passing, causing McCain to win
  in November

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Terminology Internal Link

• The change mentioned in the link causes something
  bad to happen.
• In most cases an internal link is necessary
  however, occasionally the uniqueness or link will
  also function as an internal link.
• Example If elected, McCain will attack Iran

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Terminology Impact

• The bad thing mentioned in the internal link is
  in fact, really REALLY bad.
• This is where the stereotype of nuclear war
  enters policy debate.
• Example If the US attacks Iran, Iran will
  respond by attacking Israel leading to a GLOBAL
  NUCLEAR WAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

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Terminology Affirmative Answers

• Non-Unique
• Ex McCain winning election now
• No Link
• Ex Democrats get credit for plan action
• No Internal Link
• Ex McCain wont attack Iran pre-emptively
• No Impact
• Ex Attacking Iran is not all that bad (they
  wont strike Israel/no nuclear war)

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Terminology Affirmative Turns

• Link-Turn Non-Unique No Link
• Example McCain winning now and democrats will
  get credit for plan action
• This makes the disad an affirmative advantage.
  McCain winning the election now, plan causes
  Obama to win, McCain would attack Iran
• You can still make other arguments against the DA
  if you link turn.

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Terminology Affirmative Turns

• Impact-Turn The impact is actually a good thing
• Example Attacking Iran is a good thing
• This makes the DA an affirmative advantage since
  the ultimate impact is good over the status quo
• You CANNOT make other arguments against the DA if
  you impact turn.

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Terminology Brink

• Brink Very specific uniqueness. One more
  action causes the internal link/impact.
• The negative will generally not argue in the
  shell
• The affirmative will make no-brink arguments,
  either saying the link wont push the status quo
  over the brink, or that threshold has already
  been crossed

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Lesson Plans Uli!

• Meet Uli! (Uniqueness, Link, Internal Link, !
  Impact)
• Uli likes to make dresses on top of a steep
  cliff.

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Lesson Plans Uli!

• The affirmative plan causes Uli to make an ugly
  dress

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Lesson Plans Uli!

• The ugly dress causes Heidi Klum to become
  murderous. She pushes Uli off the cliff.

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Lesson Plans Uli!

• Uli falls onto jagged rocks. Trogdor burninates
  her.

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Lesson Plans dISaD Mix UP fuN

• Give students four parts of a specific disad. Do
  not label or tag the cards/pieces of evidence.
  Have the students tag and label the evidence.
  Finally, they should put the DA back in order

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Specific Examples on the Topic

• Elections
• Federalism
• Economy
• Fiscal Discipline
• Business Confidence

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Elections DA / Politics DA

• Political Disadvantages are the most popular in
  policy debate
• Thesis The plan will change something about the
  political climate
• Until the election happens, the politics DA will
  be called simply Elections

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Elections Two Scenarios

• Obama Bad
• McCain wins now
• Plan causes Obama to win
• Obama does something bad
• BOOM
• McCain Bad
• Obama wins now
• Plan causes McCain to win
• McCain does something bad
• BOOM

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Elections Obama Bad

• As of 7.10.08, Obama is winning in all the major
  national polls (RCP). This means dont use this
  scenario. If polls change, use this scenario.
• Uniqueness McCain winning
• Link Obama wins because of plan
• Environment is traditionally democratic issue
• Obama
• Internal Link Obama does something bad
• Tax cuts
• Iraq Withdraw
• Supreme Court packing
• Impact Any one of those things are bad
• Kills the economy
• Leads to terrorism
• Makes an overly liberal supreme court that does
  somethingum..bad

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Elections McCain Bad

• Obama leads McCain by an average 5.5 points on
  the national polls. If the debate were happening
  today, this is the scenario you should run.
• Uniqueness Obama winning now
• Link Plan causes McCain to win
• President Bush signed the legislation/enacted the
  executive order. Makes the GOP look good
• McCain
• Internal Link McCain does something bad
• Attack Iran
• Stay in Iraq too long
• Supreme Court Packing
• Impact
• Nuclear war in Middle East
• Terrorism
• Overturn Roe v. Wade which is key to all civil
  rights (yes, this evidence exists!)

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Elections Other considerations

• Lots of work constantly changing constantly
  changing your disad (great way to teach novices
  how to do debate research!!)
• Use this as a chance to teach the political
  process (Schoolhouse Rocks, ROCKS!)
• Other politics DAs usually deal with the
  legislative process
• When citing newspapers, do not use the staff
  writers name. Use the name of the newspaper
  itself.
• Have both scenarios ready to go. You never know
  when polls will change or if there will be an
  October Surprise.

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Federalism

• Federalism refers to the balance of power between
  state governments and the national governments
  (10th amendment)
• Students often think it is simply the states
  should have more power. Not true.

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Federalism

• Uniqueness Right now federalism is high (or at
  the brink)
• Actually, not true- in recent years the Supreme
  Court and Congress have essentially destroyed it.
  NCLB anyone?) The best argument is at the brink
  of being destroyed
• Link States traditionally enact policies
  dealing with alternative energy. The aff plan is
  seen as violating federalism.
• Various Internal Link/Impact Scenarios
• International Federalism and hegemony
• The economy and the environment

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Economy Fiscal Discipline

• Uniqueness Right now Congress is keeping their
  spending in check.
• Link Plan is unbudgeted (true) which causes out
  of control spending (probably not true, but it is
  in debate world!)
• Internal Link Uncontrolled spending crushes the
  economy
• Impact Bad economy war

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Economy Business Confidence

• U Business confidence is okay now
• L Two options
• A Regulations cause businesses to save rather
  than invest
• B Taxes/sanctions cause disrupt business
  confidence
• IL
• A Lack of investment by businesses kills the
  economy
• B Lowered business confidence causes price
  increases and kills the economy
• Impact is the same as Fiscal Discipline

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Great resources you already have in your school!

• The interwebs!
• Real Clear Politics
• Newspaper/Newsvchannel websites (stay away from
  USAToday, I use NYTimes and CNN)
• The NDCA webpage, DDI/DDW Wikispaces
• Your Library!
• Government and Economics Teachers!
• Television! (Especially during after school work
  sessions. Keep CNN or another news channel on
  while the kids are working.)