Debatepedia is "the Wikipedia of pros and cons". Its mission is to "clarify public debates and improve decision-making globally". Debatepedia is a project of the International Debate Education Association (IDEA), a 501c3 non-profit. It utilizes the same wiki technology powering Wikipedia to engage you and other citizen-editors in clarifying public debates by centralizing them into a single pro/con encyclopedia. This helps you, other citizens, and leaders better weigh ALL the pros and cons, develop positions, and make more informed decisions, votes, etc... And this significantly improves democracy and people's lives. Get startedJoin our Facebook group Debatepedia is endorsed by the National Forensic League.
The Debate Digest
A steady supply of pro/con articles to help you deliberate, take a stand, take action, vote, and back yourself up.
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.
CON: Gays in the military undermine unit cohesion and morale The "Don't ask, don't tell" law (Federal law Pub.L. 103-160 [10 U.S.C. § 654].) prohibits anyone who "demonstrate(s) a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts' from serving in the armed forces of the United States, for the following central reason: "One of the most critical elements in combat capability is unit cohesion, that is, the bonds of trust among individual service members that make the combat effectiveness of a military unit greater than the sum of the combat effectiveness of the individual unit members. [...] The presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability."[1]
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.
November 2nd: User:One of many argued/outlined that Debate: Atheism that "religion gives people something outside of themselves to live for." Renergy joined in to build the article out even more.
Browse through Debatepedia's main categories to explore its contents and areas of interest to you. Go to Debatepedia's Main categories to see all of its categories, portals, and other contents.
