CDI 2008 Theory

Starter Pack

Index
Index....................................................................................................................................................................1
Dispo Bad 2AC...................................................................................................................................................2
PICs Bad 2AC.....................................................................................................................................................3
Dispo PICs Bad 2AC..........................................................................................................................................4
Conditionality Bad 2AC......................................................................................................................................5
Consultation Bad 2AC........................................................................................................................................6
50 State Fiat Bad................................................................................................................................................7
Lopez Bad 2AC...................................................................................................................................................8
No Text to the Alternative Bad............................................................................................................................9
Floating PICs Bad ............................................................................................................................................10
Conditional Frameworks Bad ...........................................................................................................................11
Conditionality Good..........................................................................................................................................12
Dispositionality Good.......................................................................................................................................13
Plan-Inclusive Counterplans Good...................................................................................................................14
Floating Plan-Inclusive Kritiks Good...............................................................................................................15
No Critique Text Good......................................................................................................................................16
50 State Fiat Good.............................................................................................................................................17

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CDI 2008 Theory
Starter Pack

Dispo Bad 2AC

1___ Dispositionality is bad:

A. Strategy – the negative can engage in multiple contradictory worlds and not have to make a
decision of what to advocate until the 2nr. This destroys affirmative offense and

B. Conditionality in disguise – we have no choice but to permutate – the strategic decisions they
give us are always undesirable because it would leave us unable to answer counterplans that are
plan plus – conditionality is bad because it justifies multiple worlds and destroys affirmative
strategy

C. this is a voting issue for the reasons above and competitive equity –you should err aff on theory
– the negative gets the block and more diverse strategic options

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CDI 2008 Theory
Starter Pack

PICs Bad 2AC

___ PICs are bad

A. The steal affirmative ground – we are forced to generate offense against our own affirmative –
this leaves us strategically behind and destroys our ability to make good 2AC decisions

B. Critical Thinking – PICs focus the debate on trivial net benefits which destroy topic specific
education and depth to the strategic case debates

C. this is a voting issue for the reasons above and competitive equity – you should err aff on theory
– the negative gets the block and more diverse strategic options

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CDI 2008 Theory
Starter Pack

Dispo PICs Bad 2AC

1___ Dispositional PICs are bad:

A. Strategy – the affirmative is allowed to engage in multiple contradictory worlds – one of which
involves our affirmative – this allows for them to simply jettison all of the offense we can
generate from the 1AC or 2AC

B. Ground – because the counterplan is part of the plan we have no ground to generate offensive
argument against either the status quo or the counterplan – this leaves us structurally behind
because we have no ground in any world of the 1NC

C. Its conditionality in disguise – the fact that they do parts of our plan makes it impossible for us
not to permute or run external theory – this is our only way to have offense and to counter the
plan plus counterplan – conditionality is uniquely bad because it skews affirmative strategy and
engages in multiple worlds

this is a voting issue for the reasons above and competitive equity– and you should err aff on theory –
the negative gets the block and more diverse strategic options

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CDI 2008 Theory
Starter Pack

Conditionality Bad 2AC

Conditionality is Bad:

A. Strategy – the 2AC is forced to defend against multiple worlds – the ability to kick out of the
counterplan at any point destroys our ability to produce strategic choices

B. Decreases critical thinking and argumentative responsibility, because it allows the negative to
drop their plan at any point without repercussion

C. Dispositionality solves all of their offense while fairly dividing strategic decisions

D. It’s a voting issue for the reasons above and competitive equity

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CDI 2008 Theory
Starter Pack

Consultation Bad 2AC

1___ Consultation is illegitimate –

A. Conditional – we’ll make two arguments here – the first is that the outcome is conditional
which means that we can’t produce offense against the counterplan which screws the 2AC and
second is that it would be suicide not to perm this counterplan because of its artificial
competition that makes the counterplan essentially conditional which skews strategy and
engages in multiple worlds

B. Artificial competition – the counterplan doesn’t textually compete with the 1AC because the
plan text could fit within their text – that makes the counterplan plan plus which justifies the
permutation to do the counterplan this should be the preferred mechanism of evaluating
competition because it increases strategic thinking and education while decreasing judge
intervention

C. Education – consultation engages in a form of tired education – we think that counterplans

should be specific to the topic which allows for a better balance of breadth and depth

this is a voting issue for the reasons above and competitive equity – you should err aff on theory – the
negative gets the block and more diverse strategic options

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CDI 2008 Theory
Starter Pack

50 State Fiat Bad

50 State fiat is bad

A no literature – this makes it impossible to produce offense specific to the counterplan because
there’s no literature base that is comparative to a world where all 50 states do the exact same
thing in unison

B reciprocity – the counterplan fiats multiple independent agents – this is not reciprocal because
we only get one – the USFG – this makes it impossible to produce offense and unfairly tilts the
strategic balance towards the negative

C it’s a voting issue for the reasons above and competitive equity – you should err aff on theory
because they have the structural advantage of the block and more diverse strategic options

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CDI 2008 Theory
Starter Pack

Lopez Bad 2AC

Lopez CP is illegitimate:

A) Double Actor Fiat Bad – having both the federal and state governments act is unfair because its
not reciprocal and it negates our USFG key warrant which is the only predictable strategic
check against the states counterplan

B) 50 State Fiat Bad – there is not literature on all 50 states acting in unison which denies our
ability to produce comparative solvency arguments and its not reciprocal because they engage
50 independent actors we only get one

C) No literature- there is zero evidence on a Supreme Court ruling to devolve power to the states
on our policy and then have uniform implementation. Literature is crucial to aff predictability
and offense.

D) Voting issue for the reasons above and competitive equity – you should err aff on theory
because they have the structural advantage of the block and more diverse strategic options

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CDI 2008 Theory
Starter Pack

No Text to the Alternative Bad

No Text to the Alternative is bad:

A no stable ground – we lose our ability to produce strategic offense and permutations – without a
text there is an incentive for the negative to shift their alternative to nullify the 2AC

B Reciprocity – we have a stable text – if they can claim to solve the affirmative and change the
status quo they should have one too

C it’s a voting issue for the reasons above and competitive equity – you should err aff on theory
because they have the structural advantage of the block and more diverse strategic options

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CDI 2008 Theory
Starter Pack

Floating PICs Bad

Floating PICs are bad

A no text – they should not be able to solve anything without a text – it destroys our ability to
produce offense and permutations

B Conditional – Their argument is a conditional advocacy which destroys strategic ground and
fairness by allowing the negative to drop their advocacy at any point.

C Ground – the PIC steals affirmative ground and allows them to solve our affirmative in a 15
second blip. This is totally unpredictable and forces the aff to perm every part of the 2nc to
cover their bases.

D No solvency – they have no solvency argument of advocate – don’t let them get away with just
claiming to solve our affirmative – specified solvency is essential to offense and affirmative
strategy

E it’s a voting issue for the reasons above and competitive equity – you should err aff on theory
because they have the structural advantage of the block and more diverse strategic options

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CDI 2008 Theory
Starter Pack

Conditional Frameworks Bad

Conditional Frameworks Bad:

A Strategy – the affirmative makes strategic choices based on stable frameworks – conditional
frameworks make it impossible for us to produce strategic offense until the 2AR

B the 2AC is forced to defend against multiple worlds – the ability to kick out of the framework at
any point destroys our ability to produce strategic choices

C it’s a voting issue for the reasons above and competitive equity – you should err aff on theory
because they have the structural advantage of the block and more diverse strategic options

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CDI 2008 Theory
Starter Pack

Conditionality Good
___ Negative flexibility – the negatives role is to negate the resolution – conditionality provides us
with a crucial strategic tool – this outweighs their argument because negative flexibility is key
to competitive equity and balancing an affirmative side bias

___ Policy making – our interpretation is the best model for policy making because it is a flexible
process like the counterplan

___ Time and strategy skews are inevitable – teams will always be faster and theory and topicality
arguments will always produce a time and strategic trade-off – the counterplan is preferable to
these debates because they increase education and equalize time trade offs

___ Err negative on theory – the affirmative gets first and last speech, infinite prep and higher win
percentages

___ Rejection is the wrong remedy – drop the counterplan not the team

___ Potential abuse isn’t a voting issue – they can’t articulate any in round abuse which is a reason
we shouldn’t be rejected

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CDI 2008 Theory
Starter Pack

Dispositionality Good
___ we put the strategic ball in their court – they can stick us with the counterplan which means
they dictate where the debate goes – this turns all of their offensive reasons why dispositionality
is bad
___ Negative flexibility – the negatives role is to negate the resolution – dispositionality provides us
with a crucial strategic tool – this outweighs their argument because negative flexibility is key
to competitive equity and balancing an affirmative side bias

___ Dispositionality is the best balance – conditionality skews affirmative strategy and
unconditional counterplans unfairly restrict the negative – dispo provides a middle ground
___ we’re not conditionality – even if they want to perm they have to make a strategic option which
increases critical thinking

___ policy making – our interpretation is the best model for policy making because it is a flexible
process like the counterplan

___ time and strategy skews are inevitable – teams will always be faster and theory and topicality
arguments will always produce a time and strategic trade-off – the counterplan is preferable to
these debates because they increase education and equalize time trade offs

___ err negative on theory – the affirmative gets first and last speech, infinite prep and higher win
percentages
___ rejection is the wrong remedy – drop the counterplan not the team
___ potential abuse isn’t a voting issue – they can’t articulate any in round abuse which is a reason
we shouldn’t be rejected

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CDI 2008 Theory
Starter Pack

Plan-Inclusive Counterplans Good

___ Policy making – debate is the search for the best policy option – the counterplan is most real
world because it makes changes to the plan in order to produce the best policy – this is key to
critical thinking

___ Affirmative must defend their plan – the PIC forces the affirmative to defend all of their plan –
this is key to plan focus and well written strategic plan texts

___ Literature checks abuse – we have a net benefit that is founded in the literature – this makes
the PIC predictable

___ rejection is the wrong remedy – drop the counterplan not the team

___ potential abuse isn’t a voting issue – they can’t articulate any in round abuse which is a reason
we shouldn’t be rejected

___ err negative on theory – the affirmative speaks first and last, gets infinite prep and higher win
percentages

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CDI 2008 Theory
Starter Pack

Floating Plan-Inclusive Kritiks Good

___ Necessary test – the negative must disprove the necessity of the plan – our criticism is essential
to providing this check

___ critical thinking – the PIK forces the affirmative to contextualize their affirmative to our
criticism – don’t punish us for being more specific with our criticism

___ err negative on theory – the affirmative speaks first and last, gets infinite prep and higher win
percentages

___ wrong remedy – at worst you would not evaluate our PIK this is not a reason to reject the
negative

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CDI 2008 Theory
Starter Pack

No Critique Text Good

___ Critical thinking – the call for a text to the alternative decreases critical thinking – it attempts
to condense our criticism to one sentence which denies the depth of the argument and allows
the affirmative to side step the major questions of our criticism – this critical thinking trumps
and turns all of their arguments because it is a prerequisite to their strategy and ground claims

___ time and strategy skews are inevitable – this is not a reason to reject us – the end result would
be that we shift to bad specification, topicality and theory arguments – this is worse for the
affirmative because the trade offs are larger

___ err negative on theory – the affirmative speaks first and last, gets infinite prep and higher win
percentages

___ wrong remedy – at worst you would not evaluate our PIK this is not a reason to reject the
negative

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CDI 2008 Theory
Starter Pack

50 State Fiat Good

___ it forces a USFG key warrant – this is the only check on affirmatives which do not justify the
agent of the resolution

___ Predictable – this is the states counterplan – you should be prepared to debate this – the
literature base is proven by this arguments longevity

___ Reciprocal – the affirmative gets the USFG we should get the reciprocal agent – which is the
states – this reciprocity is key to competitive equity

___ rejection is the wrong remedy – drop the counterplan not the team

___ potential abuse isn’t a voting issue – they can’t articulate any in round abuse which is a reason
we shouldn’t be rejected

___ err negative on theory – the affirmative speaks first and last, gets infinite prep and higher win
percentages

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