Debate Topics

Here are some sample topics that you may want to use to practice, or just to find out how they are formatted:

Resolved: When they  conflict, respect for cultural sensitivity ought to be valued above commercial  use of free speech.

Resolved: The use of  economic sanctions to achieve U.S. foreign policy goals is moral.

Resolved: Violent juvenile  offenders ought to be treated as adults in the criminal justice  system.

Resolved: the intervention  of one nation in the domestic affairs of another nation is morally  justified.

Resolved: inaction in  the face of injustice makes an individual morally culpable.

When they conflict, the means  ought to be prioritized above the ends in making governmental policy.

A just society ought to use  affirmative action programs to promote equality.

Judicial activism ought to be  valued above strict constructionism as the basis for US Supreme Court  decisions.

In America, government  provision of welfare for the poor ought to take priority over individual  economic freedom.

Establishing a safe  educational environment in grades K-12 justifies infringement of students' civil  liberties.

That colleges and universities  have a moral obligation to prohibit the public expression of hate speech on  their campuses.

That the demands of the work  environment justify an employer's violation of employees' privacy.

RT:  the right of an  individual to emigrate ought to be valued above a nation's right to limit  immigration.

RT:  When in conflict, equal  treatment under the law ought to take precedence over the exercise of  prosecutorial discretion.

RT:  Hate crime warrants  additional punishment.

RT: In the United States,  business monopolies ought to be allowed to operate free of antitrust  regulation.

RT:  The public's right to  know ought to be valued above the right of privacy of candidates for public  office.

RT:  On balance, violent  revolution is a just response to oppression.

RT: When they are in conflict,  alleviation of a pressing social concern justifies governmental infringement of  a patent right.

RT:  Decentralized  governmental power ought to be a fundamental goal of democratic  society.

RT:  The possession of nuclear  weapons is immoral.

RT:  A lesser developed  nation's right to develop ought to take priority over its obligation to protect  the environment.