Tournament: Yale | Round: 1 | Opponent: - | Judge: -

The evaluative term in the resolution is ought, and ought is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as "used to express a moral obligation"

Thus I value morality.

Schattschneider defines democracy.

(, E.E. 1960. The Semisovereign People. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.)
"Democracy is a competitive political system in which competing leaders and organizations define the alternatives of public policy in such a way that the public can participate in the decision-making process." (Schattschneider 1960, 141)

Democracy is the most moral form of government because it increases the autonomy, rationality and morality of its citizens, and more than in any other type of government.

Christiano 2006

(Tom, Philosopher at the University of Arizona, "Democracy", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Many have endorsed democracy on the basis of the proposition that democracy has beneficial effects
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Mill 1861, p. 74, Elster 2002, p. 152).

The main obligation of a democracy is to maintain itself, because democracy has intrinsic value.

Sen

(Amartya, Winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Economics, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Lamont University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University "Democracy as a Universal Value", Journal of Democracy 10.3 (1999) 3-17)
¶ Viewed in this light, the merits of democracy and its claim as a
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participation in the political life of the ¶ community is a major deprivation.

Citizen participation is essential to a democracy, because laws and policies are decided based on public opinion. Without citizen participation the government cannot function.

1. Citizen participation is essential to government legitimacy. The more that citizens participate the more consistent governmental policies will be with their views and thus the more legitimate.

2. Political Participation is necessary for equal government responsiveness

Verba 96

(Sidney, University Professor and Director, Harvard University Library, "The Citizen as Respondent: Sample Surveys and American Democracy Presidential Address, American Political Science Association, 1995", American Political Science Review Vol. 90, No. 1  March 1996)
¶ The problem in representation with which I wish to deal is as follows:
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on citizen participation, and equal respon­ siveness depends  on equal  participation.

3. Political participation solves for injustice and political inequality within a democracy

Fung 1

(Archon, Associate professor¶ of public policy at the John F. Kennedy¶ School of Government, Harvard University, "Varieties of Participation in Complex Governance")
Injustice often results from political inequality. When¶ some groups cannot infl uence the
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they can create popular pressures that¶ compel authorized officials to act justly.

Equality is important because it is one of the central democratic ideals

Cohen 1

(Carl, Professor of Philosophy at the Residential College of the University of Michigan 1971, "The Intrinsic Value of Democracy"
The three classical ideals closely associated with democracy ~are~liberty, ~and
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those who do not really want democracy, who do think it just. 

4. Democracy is inefficient, but citizen participation solves.

Fung 2

(Archon, Associate professor¶ of public policy at the John F. Kennedy¶ School of Government, Harvard University, "Varieties of Participation in Complex Governance")
¶ Even when public decisions are just and legitimate,¶ state agencies may be incapable
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professionals and the techniques that are¶ embedded in their organizations and procedures.¶ 

Thus the standard is increasing citizen participation in political affairs

Contention 1: Compulsory voting is the most effective way to increase voter turnout.

The choice to vote is driven by social norms.

Hill and Louth 1

(¶ Discipline of Politics, School of History and Politics, ¶ University of Adelaide," Compulsory Voting Laws and Turnout:  Efficacy and Appropriateness")
Voting behaviour is difficult to change because it appears to be a kind of habit
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a straightforward utility calculation about (transaction and opportunity) costs and benefits.

Compulsory voting is the best way to make voting a social norm.

Hill and Louth 2

(¶ Discipline of Politics, School of History and Politics, ¶ University of Adelaide," Compulsory Voting Laws and Turnout:  Efficacy and Appropriateness")
 Compulsory voting laws appear to act as the most effective surrogate for the social
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in all these settings (for a fuller ¶ discussion see Hill 2004).

CV is an effective way to raise voter turnout. This is empirically proven through multiple studies in many different countries

Lijphart 1

(Arend, University of California, San Diego, "Unequal Participation: Democracy’s Unresolved Dilemma¶ Presidential Address, American Political Science Association, 1996")
The strongest of all the institutional factors is compul­ sory voting ~is strong
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in presidential elections and¶ 16.5 percentage points in congressional elections.

Voter turnout is biased against minorities and citizens with lower incomes. CV solves but voluntary voting perpetuates the problem.

MALKOUPOLOU 1

~Anthoula, "Lost Voters: Participation in EU elections and the Case for Compulsory Voting", CEPS (Center for European Policy Studies), Working Document No. 317, July 2009. AS~
Compulsory voting was introduced for the first time on a national scale in Belgium in
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that the European Parliament is an elitist establishment is reinforced by abstention itself.

Unequal turnout reinforces social inequality, making it hard for helpful policies to be passed.

Lijphart 97

(Arend, University of California, San Diego, "Unequal Participation: Democracy’s Unresolved Dilemma¶ Presidential Address, American Political Science Association, 1996")
The second reason  why low and unequal voting turnout should be a serious concern is
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economic interests and subjective preferences of their class­ defined core political constituencies."¶ 

Lijphart Continues

Furthermore, the few studies that attempt the diffi-¶ cult task of directly testing
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would be extremely damaging for the very concept of representative de­ mocracy.¶ 

Economic Inequalities allow the poor to be oppressed.

FLEURBAEY 04

~Marc Fleurbaey, Woodrow Wilson School, University Center for Human Values. Program on Welfare Economics and Social Justice, Institute for Global Studies, FMSH, Paris. "Poverty As a Form Of Oppression". Print. 2004. AS~
There are thus different possible degrees of economic constraint exerted by poverty, which is
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thus a source of oppression, at least of the case 2 form.¶ 

Contention 2: Compulsory voting decreases voter apathy, thus increasing thoughtful participation.

CV allows political parties to spend more money on educating voters.

Brookie 2008

(James Harrison, Degree ¶ Master of Arts ¶ Economics, "The Effect Of Compulsory Voting Laws ¶ On Government Spending")
Another rationalization for the establishment of compulsory voting is that it frees ¶ political parties from spending large sums of money on get out the vote campaigns. ¶ Instead that money can be spent on informing voters on the issues and on the candidates. 5 ¶ It could be beneficial to the political system if political parties spent more time ¶ enlightening unsure voters and less time simply corralling the apathetic and uninformed.

The act of voting provides civic education, decreasing voter apathy.

Malkopoulou 2009

(Anthoula, Centre for European Policy Studies, "Lost Voters: Participation in EU elections and the  case for compulsory voting", CEPS Working Document No. 317/July 2009)
In addition, according to the Australian Election Commission, mandatory voting "teaches the
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. Such revenues could be ¶ recycled as state subsidies for political parties.

3) This is empirically proven through a study analyzing 14 years of data from over 36 countries.

Milazzo 2008

(Caitlin, University of California, Davis Department of Political Science, "Forced to Vote: The Impact of Compulsory Voting Laws on Political Discussion")
The results provide support for the arguments laid out above. In the first model
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a different story. Here Compulsory Voting is negative and is not significant¶ 

Contention 3: Compulsory Voting decreases negative campaigning, which is key to increasing citizen participation in government.

Compulsory voting decreases negative campaigning.

Lijphart 3

(Arend, University of California, San Diego, "Unequal Participation: Democracy’s Unresolved Dilemma¶ Presidential Address, American Political Science Association, 1996")
Second,  compulsory voting may have the beneficial¶ effect of reducing the role of
AND
When almost everybody votes, attack tactics lose most of their lure.l9

Negative campaigning decreases governmental legitimacy, leading to governmental paralysis and less citizen participation.

Philips 2012

(Todd, Journalist for Huff Post Politics, Founder, LocalElectors.org, "How Negative Political Campaigning Is Crippling America")
But the problems with negative campaigning run much deeper.¶ As anyone involved in marketing
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undermined? How can you or I be successful in a weak country?