Building Government Cases

1
Building Government Cases
2
Preliminary Steps

• Follow critical decision making.
• Analyze the proposition. Look at all
  alternatives with as much knowledge as you can
  find.
• This way, you will have a realistic knowledge of
  the strengths and weaknesses of other
  alternatives. (We often assume that weaknesses
  in our case dont exist.
• Modify your position to avoid weaknesses and
  maximize strengths
• Identify the nature of the proposition.
• Through your research and evidence, you will be
  required to establish adherence to your specific
  claims or main points.

3
Preliminary Steps

• The Government team has the burden to support the
  resolution
• The Government teams needs to define the terms of
  the resolution and provide the parameters for
  what the resolution means as a whole.
• Just define the most important and abstract
  terms. If terms are vague, the Opposition might
  try to redefine the argument to their advantage
  to control the debate.
• The Government team needs to present a debatable
  case.
• Assess presumptions and burden of proof.
• Your team has the burden of proof as you want to
  dispute the status quo.
• Remember You can expect to find the decision
  makers (or House) presuming that what they now
  regard as policy will continue to be so regarded
  unless and until someone undertakes the burden of
  proving otherwise.

4

• Both sides need to address the basic areas of
  whats ill or not working, who is to blame,
  whats the cure, who is the empowered agency, and
  the cost of the plan.
• The Government team needs to address the problem
  before proposing a solution. Convince the
  audience that there is a problem or a need and
  then tell how your solution gives solvency.
• The Government team must convince the audience
  that this problem matters and that its
  significant.
• Create a sense of urgency by establishing the
  significance of the ill you have identified.
• If the audience isnt convinced that the problem
  is important to them, you will have difficulty
  convincing them to your solution.

5
Blame

• Once the Government team has established the ill
  and the degree of significance, now address the
  stock issue of blame.
• Who or what is at fault?
• Who or what causes the problem (the ill) that has
  been identified?
• The Opposition will probably try to shift the
  blame for the ill to another causal factor.
• To prevent this, you need to address the blame by
  convincing your audience that the blame lies with
  whatever.
• Illegal immigration is a good example of various
  blaming. Whos to blame? The federal
  government? The economy? The immigrants
  themselves? Racists?

6
Inherency

• This refers to the necessity for you, the
  advocate of the plan, to show that the
  problem/ill results from the system as it is.
• Thus, the status quo is flawed and change is
  necessary to properly address the ill or problem.
• The Government must prevent the Opposition from
  successfully arguing that other factors are
  primarily responsible for the problems/ills
  mentioned in the debate. If the Opposition can
  convince the judge/audience that fixing the
  system will not solve the problem, the Government
  team has lost the stock issue of inherency.
• Government team must show that the ill is
  inherent in the present system.
• Example Illegal immigration the Government
  team must show that there is something essential
  to the number of illegal immigrants and its
  relationship to U.S. citizens that create severe
  problems demanding our national (or state or
  local) attention.
• Rebuttals would be that the U.S. needs illegal
  immigrants and that they do the work/jobs that
  citizens arent willing to do.

7
Inherency Barriers

• What are the barriers in the status quo that keep
  the problem from getting solved?
• Attitudinal
• Physical
• Economic
• Political

8
Solution or Cure

• This stock issue concerns the method or plan for
  addressing the ill.
• Now that the audience understands the problem and
  its urgency, what should be done about it?
• The Government teams needs to consider the degree
  of specificity you will offer.
• Organize the solution into planks

9
Plank 1 Agency

• Who is responsible for oversight and
  implementation of your plan?
• Will it be now or existing government agencies
  such as the EPA, FCC, NASA, etc.
• Will it be on a global, national, state, local
  scale?

10
Plank 2 Mandates

• This explains what the agency will do.
• Will laws be made or repealed?
• Specific mandates are easier to enforce because
  they provide clear measures of what to do.

11
Plank 3 Time Frames

• How long will the plan take?
• How long before the plan can be implemented?

12
Plank 4 Funding

• Who is going to pay for the plan?
• How?

13
Plank 5 Enforcement

• How will the plan be enforced?
• Who is going to enforce it?
• What will the punishment be if the new plan/law
  is not followed?

14
Plank 6 Cost

• How will the current system be disrupted?
• How much time will the solution take away from
  other activities and programs?
• How much money will be taken away from other
  activities or programs?
• What are the social costs?
• What are the psychological costs?
• What are the opportunity costs?
• Example Reparation for African-Americans

15
Government Burdens In a Nutshell

• Provide criteria/measuring stick to establish a
  problem/ill exists and change is needed.
• Prove the resolution/proposition is true.
• Define parameters of the argument (make sure
  there is clash/debatable).
• Talk about stock issues and inherency.
• (Ill, blame, cure, agency, cost)
• Inherency barriers in the status quo that keeps
  from solving the problem attitudinal, physical,
  economic, political.

16

• Have a solution. Your plan should contain all
  major elements necessary to address the problem
  of the status quo and inherent barriers.
• Organize into planks
• Agency who is responsible for oversight and
  implementation of your plan? Existing or new
  U.S. government agencies like the EPA, FCC, etc.
• Mandates explains what the agency will do.
  Will laws be made or repealed? Specific mandates
  are easier to enforce because they provide clear
  measures of what to do.
• Time frames
• Funding Whos going to pay for it?
• Enforcement How and who will enforce it?

17

• Talk about the advantages of your solution.
• Talk about how it solves the problem.
• Remember You, the Government Team have the
  burden of proof.
• You need to provide sufficient reasons to
  overcome presumption.
• Thus, provide a good prima facie case that
  temporarily suspends presumption.