Category: U.S. Extemp

1. Who will win the Democratic South Carolina presidential primary?

2. Why is Martin Torrijos losing support in Panama?

3. Should there be a 90 day freeze on home foreclosures?

4. What does a nationalist win in round one of the Serbian presidential contest say about the prospects for continued peace in the Balkans?

5. Can a recently brokered peace deal bring calm to East Congo?

6. What can America do to improve inner city schools?

7. Will gas shortages in Iran be the end of Ahmadinejad?

8. Are Americans ignoring Social Security’s impending doom?

9. Is felony disenfranchisement constitutional?

10. Has Rudy Giuliani’s campaign strategy backfired?

Extemp Questions for the Week of January 16th-22nd, 2008

By Logan Scisco

On January 16, 2008

In International Extemp, U.S. Extemp, Weekly Questions

1. Will recent racial tensions in the Democratic Party between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama weaken the party for the general election?

2. Is the world taking the threat of nuclear terrorism seriously?

3. Has the Reagan coalition collapsed?

4. Is Indonesia going the way of Iran or Turkey?

5. Will an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve stop a U.S. recession?

6. Is Mitt Romney’s candidacy dead?

7. Will the world hit peak oil production in the next decade?

8. Is a third party necessary to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

9. Why did Saakashvili win the recent Georgian presidential election?

10. Should China be applauded for switching its capital punishment method from firing squad to lethal injection?

Extemp Questions for the Week of January 9th-15th, 2008

By Logan Scisco

On January 9, 2008

In International Extemp, U.S. Extemp, Weekly Questions

1. Who is the best “candidate for change” in the presidential race?

2. What can the international community do to lower violence over the outcome of the recent Kenyan elections?

3. How can the U.S. best combat gang violence?

4. Why is America’s public transit system so poor?

5. Should the U.S. invade Pakistan if radicals seize control of the country?

6. What is the message from the recent Thai elections?

7. Are the Kirchner’s putting Chavez’s interests over those of the Argentinian people?

8. Should John Edwards have left the Democratic race after Iowa?

9. How should Ban Ki-moon’s first year as UN Secretary General be graded?

10. What went wrong for Hillary in Iowa?

Extemp Questions for the Week of January 2nd-8th, 2008

By Logan Scisco

On January 2, 2008

In International Extemp, U.S. Extemp, Weekly Questions

1. With just two days remaining, who will win the Democratic Party’s Iowa caucus?

2. With just two days remaining, who will win the GOP’s Iowa caucus?

3. What effect will the assassination of Benazir Bhutto have on Pakistan’s political system?

4. Can China save the world economy?

5. Are family politics hurting South Asian nations?

6. Should states or the federal government regulate carbon emissions?

7. Has Pope Benedict XVI strengthened or weakened the Catholic Church?

8. Should polar bears be added to the “threatened” species list?

9. Were the recent Kenyan elections fair?

10. After a year in control of Congress, what grade does the Democratic Party deserve?

Topic Brief: New Hampshire Primary

By Logan Scisco

On December 1, 2007

In Topic Brief, U.S. Extemp

By Logan Scisco

The presidential primary season is fast approaching and by the time next month’s briefs are released the chances are that the Iowa caucuses will have been completed and we will be mere days from the New Hampshire primary. These two contests highlight the beginning of the presidential nomination calendar and despite the movements of primaries in Florida and California, both states have managed to retain their position as being first in the nation when it comes to presidential politics.

The New Hampshire primary is the first presidential primary conducted in the presidential nomination system. Some extempers may say “I thought Iowa was,” but it is important to remember that Iowa operates under a caucus system and not a primary election system. If extempers remain unclear on this issue or wish to explore these differences in more depth I would encourage them to check out the Iowa caucuses brief I wrote for the September edition of Extemp Question Central Extemp Topic Briefs.

This year’s New Hampshire primary date has been set for January 8^th, a mere five days after the Iowa caucuses which will occur on January 3^rd. This means that the population of both Iowa and New Hampshire will have to endure presidential campaigning during the holiday season. It also means that the losers in Iowa will not have the typical recovery time of several weeks before New Hampshire voters go to the polls. These two contests have been put in such close proximity to each other due to states trying to become a more important part of the presidential nominating calendar. Earlier this year, Florida moved its primary into January and California moved theirs to February despite threats by both major parties that they would lose delegates to their nominating conventions next summer. Due to states moving their primary calendars forward, it has threatened the traditional positioning of Iowa and New Hampshire as the first presidential contests. Therefore, instead of having the Iowa caucuses in late January and the New Hampshire primary in early February, the system has been tweaked to make these contests even earlier.

This brief will follow much of the same format as the Iowa caucuses brief in September. I will discuss the history of the New Hampshire primary, how it works, and where the race for the presidency for each party stands at the current time.

Topic Brief: United States Education

By Logan Scisco

On November 1, 2007

In Topic Brief, U.S. Extemp

By Logan Scisco

Education, the one social issues topic that makes most extempers as squeamish as drawing a topic on abortion, a controversial racial issue, or gender topics. The reason for this squeamishness is simple: most of your judges are educators or are parents who have children in some stage of the American education system. As a result of this, extempers are afraid of offending their audience because no teacher wants to be told for seven minutes that they are part of the problem in U.S. education and no parent wants to be told that their child is stuck in a failing education system for the same period of time. However, extempers who fall into the trap of ending up on the wrong side of a judge’s ballot often run afoul because they do not have solid facts and information to convince the audience of their viewpoint. Instead, those who often go with the advocacy position that U.S. education needs to be improved do not offer much hope for improvement at all and simply dwell on the negatives of the system. That road will lead to many lost rounds that an extemper could have won if they had researched the issue much more in depth.

U.S. education is one of those topics where an extemper already has direct experience. After all, if you are an extemper reading this brief you are enrolled in a high school somewhere in this country and (hopefully) regularly attend school everyday. There are probably teachers you like and teachers you hate and you probably have some of your own opinions as to how your education could be improved upon. Therefore, when reading information about the U.S. education system you should be able to make connections to your own learning environment. This makes reading articles about U.S. education much simpler and more intriguing for extempers (at least of the domestic variety).

Topic Brief: United States Healthcare

By Logan Scisco

On October 1, 2007

In Topic Brief, U.S. Extemp

By Logan Scisco

One domestic issue that extempers will always encounter during the dreaded “social issues” rounds is the state of health care in the United States. Navigating through the maze of health insurance coverage, why health care costs are high, and how the shortage of health care in the country can be solved can become a nightmare for even the most well read and skilled extemper.

Health care is a pressing social issue that is currently facing the United States. According to the Census Bureau in 2006, 47 million Americans lack health insurance. These 47 million Americans represent 15.8 percent of the population and the lack of health care coverage is linked to rising health care costs that are burdening the American economy and the American consumers who are fortunate enough to enjoy private or public health care coverage.

With a presidential election due in November 2008, health care has become the top domestic issue of the campaign. Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Barack Obama, and John Edwards, the three leading Democratic contenders for president, have released their plans to expand health care coverage in the United States and create a universal health care system. The Republican Party has been mute on the issue of universal health care coverage but its leading candidates such as former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney have acknowledged that change needs to be introduced into the American health care apparatus.

A full extemp topic brief on health care in the United States could span thirty to forty pages. In order to make this topic brief manageable for extempers and for this brief book I have zeroed the focus on United States health care to a few critical issues: how healthcare is provided for in the United States, the problems of health care in the United States, the pluses and minuses of universal health care coverage, and the different health care plans that have been proposed thus far by leading presidential contenders.

Note: For a good explanation of the various issues facing the American health care system look at Yoni Schneller’s chapter on health care in VictoryBriefs Extemp Topic Brief books. His write up can be found in volume one of those briefs (originally published in 2000) if they are still available for sale.

Topic Brief: High Oil Prices

By Logan Scisco

On October 1, 2007

In International Extemp, Topic Brief, U.S. Extemp

By Logan Scisco

Extempers receiving questions on the price of oil and its relationship to the United States economy just keep coming. In fact, I can hardly remember a tournament that I attended in high school that didn’t have a single question on the price of oil, OPEC, and/or what the United States could do to reduce its dependency on foreign oil. Why do extempers get asked these questions a lot? The answer boils down to a combination of question writers needing to think of questions that most people can answer and most judges will have some knowledge about and also the fact that high oil prices (which lead to higher gas prices) affect the vast majority of Americans in some way, shape, or form.

High oil prices are one of those unique issues that tends not to divide along partisan lines. Sure, the GOP accused the Clinton administration of never having a real energy policy for the country, but the same was said of George W. Bush’s administration until this year when an energy policy was finally crafted. Americans may differ in their views about abortion, gun control, gay marriage, etc. but when more and more of their income is going to gasoline then they become quite angry.

However, in light of how high oil prices tend not to be a partisan issue they due spark controversy over energy policy. Conflicts emerge between the poor, who are most affected by a price increase of gasoline, and the rich, who for the most part can still afford to drive their cars or fly their fancy jets although they may have to cut back on it. Conflicts also emerge between environmentalists who want cleaner, renewable sources of energy that will benefit America in the future and businessmen who want more supplies of oil on the market that will benefit America in the present.

This brief is an attempt to briefly show why the price of oil has risen, the economic impact of high prices, what can be done to combat the influence of OPEC (a topic that never seems to want to go away), and a brief explanation of some types of renewable energy sources.

Topic Brief: United State’s Economic Credit Crunch

By Logan Scisco

On September 1, 2007

In Topic Brief, U.S. Extemp

By Logan Scisco

In August the economic crisis fuelled by the growing worldwide credit bubble was finally set in motion. Extempers have been focusing on this growing credit bubble for years and some of the readers of this brief might have already given a speech about credit conditions in the United States economy. These speeches most likely focused on America’s housing market, which has boomed over the last several years. However, this housing boom was built on a risky foundation of adjustable rate mortgages and subprime loans. Public forum debaters who also do extemp may also be familiar with the credit conditions in the United States due to a March resolution concerning the limitation of credit last season.

The recent credit meltdown in the United States economy has been felt across the world. It has been fuelled by a rise in home foreclosures and a hesitation by lenders to keep funneling money into economic institutions. Tightened credit standards have started to restrict the flow of money into the economy and financial markets, which have been boosted for the last several years on the free flow of money for investment and business acquisitions, have been jolted.

The credit crisis that is unfolding is something that extempers should start reading about soon. Understanding the complexity of hedge funds, pension funds, private equity firms, and the lending practices done by banks can be difficult, especially for beginning extempers. However, the more reading extempers do on these topics the more familiar with them they will be. Knowing about the workings of these different economic areas can help extempers feel confident about economic rounds and will also help them understand the current credit crunch.

Due to the fact that a presidential election is on the horizon, the U.S. economy is bound to play a role. How big a role it will play, though, will depend on how the economy is performing as we near November 2008. The economy under George W. Bush has grown at a continual rate of three percent but it has been criticized for leaving working class Americans behind. Furthermore, the credit crunch at the moment is prompting calls for the federal government to intervene in the economy and help those homeowners who are facing foreclosure. Therefore, knowing more about the current credit crunch can aid in your knowledge of how the 2008 presidential election will play out.

This credit crunch topic is also important for extempers because it is the first economic crisis that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has had to confront. How he handles this first crisis will determine how markets will perceive his leadership and will also go a long way towards defining his legacy at the Federal Reserve.

Due to the reasons mentioned above I felt that it was important to dedicate one of the extemp briefs for September to this credit crisis. Within this brief extempers will learn how the current crisis developed, Bernanke’s leadership of the crisis, and the economic fallout of the current crisis on the United States and the global economy.

Topic Brief: Iowa Caucuses

By Logan Scisco

On September 1, 2007

In Topic Brief, U.S. Extemp

By Logan Scisco

This is a “transition” year for domestic politics questions in extemporaneous speaking. What I mean is that this is the last full season extempers will have to read about the Bush presidency. When the 2008-2009 season begins, extempers will only have to deal with the Bush presidency until the Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin at the latest. After that point, all questions about the Bush presidency will become more evaluative in terms of his performance over eight years in the White House and extempers will have to study and learn the names of a new batch of administrative officials, not to mention the ideology and temperament of a new president.

However, the first step in this “transition” year for domestic extempers is to focus on the presidential primaries. This is a unique election season because it is one of the first times in recent memory that a sitting vice-president is not contending for his party’s nomination. As a result, the Republican Party has been thrown into chaos and has been divided in its attempt to fight off a rejuvenated Democratic Party in the 2008 elections.

For many presidential contenders all roads to the White House go through Iowa. Its unique caucus format, which will be explained in this brief, tests the skills of presidential contenders in terms of fundraising, building a solid support team, and their ability to charm voters. Iowa is the first presidential contest on the primary calendar and the candidate who is able to harness a victory in the state has the ability to use that victory to enhance their position in the race. Just look to John Kerry’s reversal of fortune after he won the Iowa caucus in 2004 to get a glimpse of that.

Since the Iowa caucus is the first presidential primary contest it will receive a large amount of media coverage for the first half of the 2007-2008 season. Although the date of the Iowa caucus has not been set, political pundits are forecasting an early January date, if not a date in late December. Extemporaneous speaking questions on the Iowa caucus are bound to arise and even if extempers do not confront a question about the Iowa caucus directly they will need to include an analysis of Iowa in almost every question dealing with presidential contenders and their chances of winning the nomination of their respective party.