1. Intro to Public Forum Debate

2. What is Public Forum Debate?
Partner debate
Purpose- for the “common man”
Much easier to understand, and thus to judge, than especially Policy but even Lincoln Douglas Debate (created because the other debates were so complicated)
Topic changes each month
Accessible to anyone

3. Types of Public Forum Topics
Public Forum, or “PF” (pronounced puff), topics are all current, popular, and much debated issues
Ex. NSA, immigration reform, climate change, foreign policy in the Middle East, the rise of China, health insurance, and the Supreme Court
Resolutions are released at the first of the month prior to the month the topic will be debated

4. Types of Resolutions
Three “types” or categories of resolutions that Public Forum debates fall under
Course-of-action debates
Cost-benefit analysis debates
Comparison debates
Most resolutions will fall under these three categories

5. Course-of-action debates
Debates that revolve around debating the merits of a course of action
Characterized by “should” in the resolution
Verbs following should may include:
Suspend
Require
Abolish
May also include a “moral obligation” to take a course of action or to do something

6. Course-of-action debates, cont.
“Should” debates will have the following categories of arguments:
Moral (is it moral?)
Feasibility (is it possible?)
Practicality (is it reasonable?)
The action will usually not have already taken place (will be in the future)
There are also should not debates
In this case, the PRO side will affirm that the course of action should not be taken and the CON will advocate that it should be taken

7. Course-of-action examples
December 2013 – Resolved: Immigration reform should include a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrations living in the United States.
March 2013 – Resolved: The United States government should not require its citizens to have health insurance.
February 2012 – Resolved: Birthright citizenship should be abolished in the United States.

8. Cost-benefit Analysis Debates
Debates that require you to evaluate and debate the costs and the benefits of an specific idea, institution, or decision
Words that characterize these debates
Undermines
Threatens
Harms
Outweighs
Benefits
Not all of these debates will explicitly say in the resolution costs or benefits!!

9. Cost-benefit Analysis Debates, cont.
These resolutions may be broad or specific
Could require the debate to focus on a specific harm or benefit or cost
Occasionally use the phrase “on balance” to equalize the debate (if you see this it’s a cost-benefit analysis debate!)
Also may ask to uphold or justify a previous decision or evaluate the implications of the decision

10. Examples of Cost-Benefit Analysis Debates
Broad
Specific
November 2013 – Resolved: The benefits of domestic surveillance by the NSA outweigh the harms.
January Resolved: The costs of a college education outweigh the benefits.
January Resolved: On balance, the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission harms the election process.
February Resolved: On balance, the rise of China is beneficial to the interests of the United States.

11. Comparison Debates
Resolutions that direct a comparison between two options in the round
May have two different solutions/options to fix a problem
Words to look for:
Prioritize
Is preferable
Should replace
Have to research both options thoroughly!
The debate will be a clash between BOTH the costs and the benefits for BOTH options

12. Comparison Resolutions, cont.
December 2012 – Resolved: The United States should prioritize tax increases over spending cuts.
November 2011 – Resolved: Direct popular vote should replace electoral vote in presidential elections.
October 2011 – Resolved: Private sector investment in human space exploration is preferable to public sector investment.

13. What type of debate is this?
Resolved: The United States should suspend all assistance to Pakistan.
 Resolved: In the United States, current income disparities threaten democratic ideals.
Resolved: Developed countries have a moral obligation to mitigate the effects of climate change.

14. Why was this exercise important?
It’s important to know what type of debate you will be participating in, in order to know the types of arguments
The type sets up the “framework” of the debate
Framework is what shapes the round
The resolution is the initially framework in a debate, because it gives you what to talk about
The value in LD and an observation in Public Forum further clarify framework in a round

15. Observations A type of framework
Useful to make the resolution more balanced to your side (some resolutions inherently favor one side over the other)
Used for clarification of what you want the round to look like or what should be talked about
Should be limited in use but are crucial to understand so if another team as an unfair observation, you are prepared to adequately attack it
Like a value in LD, gives the judge a criteria to judge upon

16. Examples
Resolved: The U.S. government should not require its citizens to have health insurance.
Observation one: the Affordable Care Act is only an example of a law that includes a mandate to purchase health insurance, meaning the debate should not be limited only to this act.
Resolved: the United States should suspend all assistance to Pakistan.
Observation one: in order for the PRO side to win today’s debate, they must prove that every form of assistance should be suspended. If any form of assistance stands at the end of the round the CON side wins today’s debate

17. Public Forum Cases
Like in LD, Public Forum Debates begin with each side reading their cases. This time, each case is 4 minutes long.
Cases will include
The resolution
Definitions
Any observations
2 or more contentions
Before we clarify how to write a case, let’s brainstorm what should be included in this month’s cases.

18. January 2016 – Resolved: On balance, economic sanctions are reducing the threat Russia poses to Western interests.
What TYPE of debate will this be?

19. Right, a cost-benefit debate!
Now, brainstorm…
Definitions…think, what should we define? And what definitions should we use if we are PRO and CON? Will each case require different definitions?
Any observations? What will this debate look like?
January 2016 – Resolved: On balance, economic sanctions are reducing the threat Russia poses to Western interests.

20. Topic Analysis
Split into two groups
Each group should come up with 5 arguments for the PRO Side and 5 for the CON Side…
May need to quickly look things up! (cite possible evidence)
Think of the categories used in “on balance” debates (Undermines, Threatens, Harms, Outweighs, Benefits)
Think of the effects of sanctions on Russia and Western interests…be ready to share!
January 2016 – Resolved: On balance, economic sanctions are reducing the threat Russia poses to Western interests.