Value Topic Selection
Directions: Identify the value that would best support the affirmative (“for”) and the negative (“against”) for
each topic.
1. Resolved: The United States ought to guarantee the right to housing.
Aff._________________________________
Neg_________________________________
2. Resolved: Public colleges and universities in the United States ought not restrict any constitutionally
protected speech.
Aff._________________________________
Neg_________________________________
3. Resolved: In the United States, private ownership of handguns ought to be banned.
Aff._________________________________
Neg_________________________________
4. Resolved: Adolescents ought to have the right to make autonomous medical choices.
Aff._________________________________
Neg_________________________________
5. Resolved: Just governments ought to ensure food security for their citizens.
Aff._________________________________
Neg_________________________________
6. Resolved: Just governments ought to require that employers pay a living wage.
Aff._________________________________
Neg_________________________________
7. Resolved: In a democracy, voting ought to be compulsory.
Aff._________________________________
Neg_________________________________
8. Resolved: Rehabilitation ought to be valued above retribution in the United States criminal justice
system.
Aff._________________________________
Neg_________________________________
9. Resolved: The United States ought to guarantee universal health care for its citizens.
Aff._________________________________
Neg_________________________________
10. Resolved: The United States ought to extend to non-citizens accused of terrorism the same
constitutional due process protections it grants to citizens.
Aff._________________________________
Neg_________________________________
11. Resolved: A government has the obligation to lessen the economic gap between its rich and poor
citizens.
Aff._________________________________
Neg_________________________________
12. Resolved: Targeted killing is a morally permissible foreign policy tool.
Aff._________________________________
Neg_________________________________
13. Resolved: It is morally permissible for victims to use deadly force as a deliberate response to
repeated domestic violence.
Aff._________________________________
Neg_________________________________
14. Resolved: In the United States, juveniles charged with violent felonies ought to be treated as adults in
the criminal justice system.
Aff._________________________________
Neg_________________________________
15. Resolved: The abuse of illegal drugs ought to be treated as a matter of public health, not of criminal
justice.
Aff._________________________________
Neg_________________________________
16. Resolved: Public High school students in the United States ought not be required to pass
standardized exit exams to graduate.
Aff._________________________________
Neg_________________________________
17. Resolved: A just society ought not use the death penalty as a form of punishment.
Aff._________________________________
Neg_________________________________