2000-2001 Resolutions

Please note: Abbreviations are as follows:

  • TH = This House
  • THW = This House would
  • USFG = United States Federal Government

Great Alaska Speakout

Submitted by Steve Johnson, University of Alaska-Anchorage

  • Round 1: Athletic accomplishments enhanced by drugs are less admirable.
  • Round 2: Compelling animals to engage in competition is inhumane.
  • Round 3: The profit motive is the best motive.
  • Round 4: Increased restrictions on the advertisement of violent media would be desirable.
  • Round 5: The USFG should more actively promote a healthy America.
  • Semi #1: Prostitution ought to be tolerated.
  • Semi #2: The recreational use of marijuana should be legalized.
  • Finals: Napster.com should be put out of business.

Boilermaker Special (Purdue University)

Submitted by Curt Gilstrap, Purdue University

  • Round 1: TH should oppose the Olympics!
  • Round 2: TH would encourage saving our green!
  • Round 3: TH would stabilize gas prices.
  • Round 4: THBT freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose!
  • Round 5: TH believes it is better to stand alone.
  • Round 6: TH would test its tires.
  • Octafinals: TH is sad, cold and lonely.
  • Quarterfinals: TH would reform the presidential campaign process!
  • Semifinals: THBT exploring the earth is more important than exploring space.
  • Finals: TH will not survive!

Golden Eagle Invitational (College of Southern Idaho)

Submitted by Chris Bragg, College of Southern Idaho

  • Round 1: TH would place a moratorium on capital punishment.
  • Round 2: THBT Americans value style over substance in presidential elections.
  • Round 3: TH would hold companies responsible for the products they sell.
  • Round 4: THBT now is the time for peace.
  • Round 5: THBT there is too much reality in reality TV.
  • Quarterfinals: TH would censor Hollywood.
  • Semifinals: THBT athletes should be held accountable for their actions.
  • Finals: TH would intervene in the oil crisis.

Topics used at Creighton/Concordia Double-Up

Submitted by Rob Layne, Truman State University

  • Round 1: TH would thwart the will of the majority.
  • Round 2: TH should hide the truth.
  • Round 3: TH should enact a more aggressive foreign policy.
  • Round 4: Resolved: The USFG should enact a policy to restrict entitlement programs.
  • Round 5: TH regrets humanitarian intervention.
  • Round 6: TH deplores utilitarianism.
  • Double Octas: Resolved: The United States should significantly increase military spending.
  • Octas: Resolved: The United States should punish China for its human rights abuses
    Resolved: TH deplores class warfare.
  • Quarters: TH would rage against the machine.
  • Semis: TH would increase consumer protection.
  • Finals: TH regrets globilization.

Claremont Colleges Round Robin

Submitted by John Meany, Claremont Colleges

  • Round 1: TH would increase protection for labor.
  • Round 2: TH would take it back.
  • Round 3: TH would open presidential debates to third party candidates.
  • Round 4: TH would reduce currently protected speech.
  • Round 5: TH would let oil prices rise.
  • Finals: TH would restrain government excess.

Claremont Colleges Invitational

Submitted by John Meany, Claremont Colleges

  • Round 1: TH would end welfare as we know it.
  • Round 2: TH would implement an effective land-use policy.
  • Round 3: TH would impose.
  • Round 4: TH would further resist free trade.
  • Round 5: TH would increase incarceration.
  • Round 6: TH would fundamentally alter military policy.
  • Round 7: TH would draft a new constitution.
  • Round 8: TH would substantially increase immigration.
  • Octas (flight 1): TH would significantly increase state authority to search and seize.
    Octas (flight 2): TH would increase religion in government.
  • Quarters: TH would significantly decrease personal autonomy.
  • Semis: TH would substantially alter the trial process.

El Camino Community College Warmup

Submitted by Joey Washburn, Long Beach City College

  • Round 1: TH would rock the vote.
  • Round 2: THBT the Olympic gold has lost its sparkle.
  • Round 3: TH would adopt school vouchers.
  • Round 4: TH would see the forest not the trees.

Parliamentary League of the Upper Midwest #1

Submitted by Dr. Tom Kuster, Bethany Lutheran

  • Round 1: TH would increase the difficulty of obtaining a divorce.
  • Round 2: TH would trade privacy for security.
  • Round 3: Resolved: college and universities should prohibit accessing Napster through their facilities.
  • Bronze Round: TH would rather take a joke than make one.
  • Gold Round: TH would ban the media from the Olympics.

Sugarloaf Invitational (Winona State)

  • Round 1: TH would not let facts get in the way of its opinions.
  • Round 2: TH would promote the unfashionable.
  • Round 3: BIRT Ralph Nader should be allowed to debate.
  • Round 4: TH would pull out of the stock market.
  • Finals: BIRT humor trumps truth.

Schnoor Invitational (Minnesota State-Mankato)

  • Round 1: THBT we cannot let terrorists and rogue nations hold this nation hostile or our allies hostile.
  • Round 2: TH resolves that a zebra does not change its spots.
  • Round 3: THBT two-thousand years ago, a homeless woman gave birth to a homeless child in a manger because the inn was full.
  • Round 4: TH believes if you are going to do something and don’t do it, that’s trustworthiness.
  • Semis: THBT the human being and the fish can coexist peacefully.

Vocal Viking (Bethany Lutheran)

Topics courtesy of Dr. Tom Kuster and Angie Nissen, Bethany Lutheran

  • TH would choose gourmet food over fast food.
  • TH believes there is too much talk and not enough action.
  • THBT modern technology is more a foe than friend.
  • THBT money rules over lives.
  • THBT the public education system needs to start doing its homework.

Jackrabbit Jousts

Topics courtesy of Thomas Bartl, University of Oklahoma

  • Round 1: TH would vote early and vote often.
  • Round 2: THBT the world was safer during the cold war.
  • Round 3: TH would not wait until the bull comes home.
  • Round 4: TH would let them debate.
  • Octafinals: TH values integrity over honesty.
  • Quarterfinals: TH would forgive third world debt.
  • Semifinals: TH would unplug the electric chair.
  • Finals: TH would let the dogs out.

Topics used at Colorado College

Topics submitted by Bonnie Stapleton, Colorado College

  • Round 1: The time for summits in the Middle East has passed.
  • Round 2: The fall of Milosevic proves that U.S. military intervention in Serbia was justified.
  • Round 3: The judicial branch is the most powerful branch of government.
  • Round 4: Reporting of polling data within three weeks of a Presidential election is detrimental to the electoral process.
  • Round 5: Sometimes, the trick is sweeter than the treat.
  • Round 6: All presidential debates should be town hall meetings.
  • Double Octafinals: The enforcement of “doping” policies by the International Olympic Committee is overzealous.
  • Octafinals: The U.S. should accelerate normalizing relations with North Korea.
  • Quarterfinals: George W. Bush’s energy policy has gotten a bum rap.
  • Semifinals: Investors are “irrationally exuberant” over tech stocks.
  • Finals: Vote Gore

Topics used at Parliamentary League of the Upper Midwest #2

Topics submitted by Dr. Tom Kuster, Bethany Lutheran College

  • Round 1: TH would turn the little beggars away without giving them candy.
  • Round 2: THBT pre-election polling sucks the blood out of the democratic process.
  • Round 3: TH prefers tricking to treating.
  • Bronze Round: TH deplores the popularity of the paranormal.
  • Gold Round: TH would force the skeletons out of the closet.

THBT Classic (Bethany Lutheran)

Topics submitted by Angie Nissen and Dr. Tom Kuster, Bethany Lutheran

  • Round 1: THBT to improve education, it is more important to raise salaries than standards.
  • Round 2: TH would impose strict guidelines on TV network election coverage.
  • Round 3: Resolved: the US should move toward protectionism in foreign trade.
  • Round 4: TH would eliminate the concept of failure.
  • Round 5: TH deplores body piercing for decorative reasons.
  • Round 6: TH would set federal standards for conducting elections of all states.
  • Semis: THBT family values are overrated.
  • Finals: TH would add public shame to the punishment of convicted criminals.

Great Western Debate Tournament

Topics courtesy of Greg Young, Humboldt State and Shawn Batt, University of Pacific

  • Round 1 (Worlds Format):
    • Instructions: The opening opposition team strikes one topic first. The opening government team strikes one of the remaining topics. They may consult the closing teams. The remaining topic is the topic for the debate.
    • 1. THBT the media reflect more than determine our culture’s values.
    • 2. The U. S. federal government should significantly restrict corporate welfare.
    • 3. THBT isolationism is under-appreciated.
  • Round 2 (Worlds Format):
    • 1. States rights are underemphasized.
    • 2. TH would restrict its borders.
    • 3. Normalization of U.S. relations with Korea and Vietnam is a slap in the face.
  • Round 3 (Worlds Format):
    • 1. THBT you can’t mandate morality.
    • 2. In higher education, written evaluations would be superior to letter grades.
    • 3. The aesthetic has given way to the expedient.
  • Round 4 (Worlds Format):
    • 1. THBT it’s time to hit the escape key.
    • 2. TH fears that something wicked this way comes.
    • 3. THB that the Founding Fathers would be horrified.
  • Round 6 (NPDA Format):
    • Instructions: The opposition team strikes one topic first. The government team strikes one of the remaining topics. The remaining topic is the topic for the debate.
    • 1. Example War: BIRT: The best three arguments the government can provide against the institution of marriage outweigh the best three arguments the opposition can provide in favor of it.
    • 2. Example War: BIRT: The best three arguments the government can provide against the internet outweigh the best three arguments the opposition can provide in favor of it.
    • 3. Example War: BIRT: The best three arguments the government can provide supporting an optimistic view of the health of the US democracy outweigh the best three arguments the opposition can provide in support of a pessimistic view of it.
  • Round 8:
    • 1. TH when all is said and done, much will be said and nothing will be done.
    • 2. THBT the people have lost their voice.
    • 3. Resolved: On the whole, society’s social, political, and economic systems are ill-equipped to deal with virtual reality.
  • Quarterfinals (Worlds Format):
    • 1. THwould amend the United States Constitution to include an explicit right to privacy.
    • 2. TH should adopt a Living Wage law.
    • 3. The U.S. should ban the sale of genetically engineered foods.
  • Semifinals (Worlds Format):
    • 1. THBT prisoners’ rights should be limited.
    • 2. THBT students should have open access to student evaluation of professors.
    • 3. TH would suspend the rules.
  • Final Round (NPDA format):
    • 1. Experience is the best teacher.
    • 2. TH would bet it all!
    • 3. We must all hang together or surely we will all hang separately.

Topics used at Parliamentary League of the Upper Midwest #4

Submitted by Dr. Tom Kuster, Bethany Lutheran College

  • Round 1: THBT colleges and universities should interchange their extracurricular arts and athletic budget.
  • Round 2: TH would put limits on the issuance of credit cards to anyone under 25.
  • Round 3: THBT “extreme” activities are just foolish.
  • Bronze Round: TH would not do it, even though we can.
  • Gold Round: TH would link the right to a driver’s license to acceptable social behavior.

Great Salt Lake Tournament

Submitted by Dr. Geoff Klinger, University of Utah

  • Round 1: TH feels Bushwhacked!
  • Round 2: TH maintains “it’s not easy being green.”
  • Round 3: THBT Salt Lake City can revitalize the Olympic Spirit.
  • Round 4: THBT the human condition is improving.
  • Round 5: TH concurs that “religion is the opiate of the masses.”
  • Round 6: TH would rather be a big fish in a small pond.
  • Octafinals: TH would “fight authority.”
  • Quarterfinals: TH believes “the act that we act is wearing thin.”
  • Semifinals: TH concurs that sometimes a lie is the best thing.
  • Finals: TH would stick with the Union.

Icebox Classic, St. Cloud State

Submitted by David Warne, St. Cloud State

  • Semis: THB there is no education like adversity.
  • Finals: THB most men go through a forest and see no firewood.

Colorado State Tournament

Submitted by Robert Margesson, Colorado State

  • Round 1: The US should not abandon National Missile Defense.
  • Round 2: THW fail until it succeeds.
  • Round 3: What steps should the UN take to stop civil unrest in Africa?
  • Round 4: Resolved: The presidential pardon procedure needs to be restructured.
  • Round 5: _________ is the best way to protect rights of homosexuals.
  • Round 6: The state should make inroads into parental rights.
  • Octafinals: Other than Cuba, the US should rebuild a relationship with a perceived enemy.
  • Quarters: Either the rights of tribes should be expanded in relation to the states or the rights of individuals should be expanded in relation totheir tribes.
  • Semis: Resolved: That which rests rusts.
  • Finals: Should the US Supreme Court play a nuetral or active role in protecting community rights?

Gorlok Gala (Webster University)

Submitted by Scott Jensen, Webster University

  • Round 1: TH would treat America’s youth like adults.
  • Round 2: We believe that America’s safety net catches more than it misses.
  • Round 3: We agree with Leo Durocher that nice guys finish last.
  • Round 4: TH would revisit the 70′s.
  • Round 5: When in conflict, TH values environmental protection over economic growth.
  • Round 6: Be it resolved that the United States federal government expand its role in educating America’s youth.
  • Quarters: Be it resolved that the United States federal government should fund the relief efforts of faith-based organizations.
  • Semis: TH values term limits as a tool for creating better government.
  • Finals: TH would sleep with the enemy.

19th Novice Nationals

  • Round 1: TH would be irrationally exuberant.
  • Round 2: TH hopes to be saved by the bell.
  • Round 3: Resolved: the United States should confront China
  • Round 4: National curriculum standards undermine students’ education.
  • Round 5: The United States is better off now than it was four years ago.
  • Round 6: Silence means consent.
  • Quarters: TH would alter its foreign policy toward the United States.
  • Semis: THBT politics offers yesterday’s answers to today’s problems
  • Finals: TH believes Eminem reflects rather than affects society.