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The Debate Digest
A steady supply of pro/con articles to help you deliberate, take a stand, take action, vote, and back yourself up.
Unlimited spending in elections - Should corporations be able to spend w/o limit on election ads as ruled by SCOTUS? - February 4th, 2010.
CON: The right to free speech does not apply to corps."The Court's blow to democracy." New York Times Editorial. January 21, 2010: "The founders of this nation warned about the dangers of corporate influence. The Constitution they wrote mentions many things and assigns them rights and protections — the people, militias, the press, religions. But it does not mention corporations. [...] Most wrongheaded of all [in the Supreme Court's 2010 decision] is its insistence that corporations are just like people and entitled to the same First Amendment rights. It is an odd claim since companies are creations of the state that exist to make money. They are given special privileges, including different tax rates, to do just that. It was a fundamental misreading of the Constitution to say that these artificial legal constructs have the same right to spend money on politics as ordinary Americans have to speak out in support of a candidate."
Recent Debate Digest articles
Big government - Is big, more liberal government better than small, conservative government? - January 27th, 2010.
Medical marijuana - Should marijuana be made legal for medical purposes? - November 19th, 2009.
Gene patents - Are gene patents, particularly related to agricultural and biotech products, a good idea? - November 15th, 2009.
Gays in the US military - Should gays be allowed to serve openly in the US military? Is "don't ask don't tell" bad policy? - October 19, 2009. - This article being used for the National Debate Series: Boston, on November 10th, 2009.
Health insurance cooperatives - Should health insurance co-ops be part of US health care reform? Are they a good alternative to public insurance? - September 4th, 2009.
This section features strong work done by Debatepedia editors. Consider joining their efforts. User Guide. See Recent changes for all recent community edits.
February 8th: Work is being done on two debate articles in particular: Debate: Capitalism vs socialism and Debate: Corporate personhood. The second debate follows the controversy surrounding the US Supreme Court's Citizens United vs Federal Election Commission ruling which ruled in favor of giving corporations rights such as the right to free speech, which allows them to spend unlimited amounts of money on campaign ads, with the defense of "free speech".
February 7th: Lenkahabetinova has been working off of Recent Changes, editing other editors' work, and doing an outstanding job of making small improvements to a large array of articles.
January 28th: Voltaire outlined on Debate: Capitalism vs socialism, "Socialism has control, unlike capitalism. Socialist economies are very well planned and has control over all the industries, thus providing a guiding hand in building and contstructing its economy. A government wants its country to succeed, however a corpo
January 26th: Voltaire outlined the following argument on Debate: Big government: Big govenment = Big growth. Throughout history, there were several big, liberal governments. Peter the Great (Russia), Catherine the Great (Russia), FDR (US), Park-Chung-Hee (South Korea), Sejong the Great (South Korea), Elizabeth the First (Britain), among other leaders. Under these leaders, the country they governed reached great economic growth. For example, look at Park-Chung-Hee of South Korea. Although a military dictator, he funneled growth by government leadership. He sharpened the industrial sector, began ordering production, and spent taxpayer's money on expanding the economy. Now, look at South Korea. It's one of the finest success stories in the world. South Korea was turned from a devastated, farming, poor country into the 13th largest economy in 3 decades. There is overwhelming evidence that big, liberal governments help improve the economy drmatically."
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