Basic Downloads

Are you new to speech and debate? The following downloads are for you. They contain introductions to various events that the Monument Membership explores. These downloads are updated every summer to prepare for the new year of competition.

Your Basic Downloads Source Material for Season 22:

File Name	S21-LD-NSDA-02-INFO-Overview-of-Civil-Disobedience-1.docx
File Size	33.29 KB
Date added	August 17, 2020
Category	Archived
Tags	Lincoln-Douglas, NSDA, Season 21

“Government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.” We all agree with Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address that Governments are meant for the people. Not the other way around. But what happens when the people disagree with government?

When people disagree with government, they tend to react the same way as when they disagree with their parents. They disobey. We call this nonviolent resistance of law. In other words, “civil disobedience.”

In your home, your parents can tell you to clean your room, and if you find this command unjust you can choose not to. That’s civil disobedience. Obviously, this term takes more meaningful connotations when we talk about it in relation to government. When Rosa Parks refused to sit in the place reserved for his race on a bus, that was civil disobedience. When Susan B. Anthony illegally voted to protest voting restrictions on women, that was civil disobedience.

We typically see these historical examples of civil disobedience as right and helpful to society. They weren’t seen that way at the time, perhaps like how some see today’s acts of civil disobedience. Either way, they are still civil disobedience. When Occupy protesters took over public parks to “occupy” them, that was civil disobedience. When the activist group Black Lives Matter blocked streets to protest suspected police brutality, that was civil disobedience. When Kim Davis refused to issue a marriage license to a gay couple, that was civil disobedience. When the Westboro Baptist Church disturbs the peace by picketing soldier’s funerals, that’s civil disobedience.

The conundrum with civil disobedience is the fact that it requires individuals to make moral judgments on the laws of a nation. And as James Madison said, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”

This is what you’ll be debating in this membership overview. Resolved: Civil disobedience in a democracy is morally justified. To prepare you for your debate, you will have to accomplish the following:

Understand what civil disobedience is.
Take a look at 3 paths for each side of the resolution.
Study model cases, affirming and negating the resolution.

The third will be done in coming weeks. As a Monument Member, you will receive an affirmative and negative case to model. The first two we will accomplish now.

Download Your Preseason Documents, too:

You may still access Season 21 downloads here.

All Season 22 Basic Downloads will be updated by August 31, 2021. They will remain available through Season 22.

Easy Entry to the World of Speech and Debate

All Members have access to the digital copy of Easy Entry to the World of Speech and Debate by Chris Jeub. Download it below or order a hard copy.

Season 22 Release Schedule

Monument releases content all year long, from one national tournament to another, in what we call "seasons." We are entering Season 22 (2021-2022). For a list of all Member downloads for Season 21, click here. The following is the general release schedule for Season 22:

End of Season 21 - Officially archived on June 28, 2021. The new Season 22 releases begin July 5, 2021.
July-August - The first Monument Monday releases July 5, 2021. Basic informational material will continue through the summer (e.g. summaries, resolutional articles, etc.).
August 30, 2021 - End of the Pre-season, beginning of the official year of Monument Speech and Debate.
~~Christmas~~ Thanksgiving 2021 (we finished early!) - All foundational downloads are complete! Summaries of all releases are now available.
Through March 2022 - BONUS material released to members on a more as-needed basis using our Coaching Request Form.
April-June, 2022 - Qualifier and Nationals Preparation work is arranged...and Monument Members will be prepared to win!

Season 22 Debate Resolutions

Resolutions for Season 22 are posted here as they are announced by various speech and debate leagues.

Policy (all season):
- NCFCA: "Resolved: The United States Federal Government should significantly reform its policies regarding convicted prisoners under federal jurisdiction."
- NSDA: "Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its protection of water resources in the United States."
- NSDA Vote for Season 23 (Due December 15, 2021):
  - OPTION 1 – GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE – Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its support of multilateral greenhouse gas emission reduction regimes.
  - OPTION 2 – GLOBAL GEO-POLITICAL CRISIS: EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES – Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its security cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in one or more of the following areas: artificial intelligence, biotechnology, cybersecurity.
- Stoa: "Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially reform the use of Artificial Intelligence technology."
Lincoln-Douglas:
- NCFCA (all season): "Resolved: In the context of innovation, the proactionary principle ought to be valued above the precautionary principle."
- NSDA releases six resolutions through the year:
  - Sept/Oct Novice: "Resolved: Civil disobedience in a democracy is morally justified."
  - Sept/Oct Varsity: "Resolved: The member nations of the World Trade Organization ought to reduce intellectual property protections for medicines."
  - Nov/Dec: "Resolved: A just government ought to recognize an unconditional right of workers to strike."
  - Jan/Feb: "Resolved: The appropriation of outer space by private entities is unjust."
  - Next release is due February 1, 2022.
- Stoa (all season): "Resolved: In the field of biomedical engineering, restraint ought to be prioritized over scientific advancement."
Other Formats:
- Big Questions Debate (all season): "Resolved: On balance, societies benefit from religious belief and practice."
- Public Forum for Sept/Oct: "Resolved: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization should substantially increase its defense commitments to the Baltic states."
- Public Forum for Nov/Dec: "Resolved: Increased United States federal regulation of cryptocurrency transactions and/or assets will produce more benefits than harms."
- Public Forum for January: "Resolved: The United States federal government should legalize all illicit drugs."
- Public Forum's next release is due January 1, 2022.

Permission & Usage

Click Here for complete information on permissions. All Membership content and Library Archives are proprietary intellectual content, so please respect our copyrights. Simply put, if you are not a Monument Member, you may not use it or share its content. If one partner of a debate team is a member and the other is not, the one who is a Monument Member must be the controller of the logins, downloads and incorporation of the Monument Membership material. Sharing logins is strictly prohibited, the only exception being from immediate family members within a single household.