Daniel Zakari is a Lincoln Douglas Debater and a Junior from Jackson, Ohio. He is a 2x Qualifier for the State Tournament. As of December 2023, he’s received 2nd placed 3 different times, has broken to at least quarters of every break tournament this year, received 5 bids to the State Tournament, and is top 3 in the state in terms of bids.

Frameworks for Both Sides

Values:

1) Morality

Since the Resolution the resolution contains the word “ought”, that denotes that AFF’S Burden is to show how the United States is morally obligated to decrease military presence in the middle east. Thus, having a value of morality shows the burden of both sides in proving whether or not the United States has a moral obligation in substantially reducing it’s military presence.

2) Justice

Justice is also a very good value for almost any resolution, including this one! Justice defined as fairness or each their due is usually a very good route as far as definitions go. In this resolution more specifically, making the value of Justice could help both sides. For instance, AFF could argue that we have to uphold Justice in the Middle East and weaken military presence in order to strengthen diplomacy with other governments. As a result, those governments are influenced to become more democratic/just. NEG could also argue that we have to uphold Justice in the Middle East by decreasing terrorism and upholding democracy, this makes governments more just.

AFF Frameworks:

1) Political Realism/Fulfilling Governmental Obligations

Political Realism is a very good framework, especially during this topic. The idea behind Political Realism is a government is only responsible for its own citizens and isn’t morally obligated to help other countries. For example, since a Canadian citizen isn’t obligated to follow US laws, the US is not obligated to protect the interests of a Canadian citizen. Similarly, AFF could argue that although we should substantially reduce US military presence in the Middle East since we’re not morally obligated to protect the interests of other citizens, it’s their governments that are supposed to. 

NEG Frameworks

1) Maximizing Wellbeing

This is always a very great framework for almost every topic. However, this framework is great for this topic especially. NEG could argue that humanitarian efforts the military is making, a lessening of authoritarian regimes, promoting democracy, and decreasing terrorism in the WANA Region maximizes wellbeing in the region and promotes justice.

This marks the end of this post. If you have any further questions, please feel free to email us via our email: resources.debate@gmail.com. Please spread the word to other debaters who you think may find this website useful! Make sure to check out our other posts, as they're guaranteed to help.