Some Maybe Not So Great Debate Cases

Compulsory National Service - Neg - Explained

All Explanations are in bold

Intro: "Because to take away a man's freedom of choice, even his freedom to make the wrong choice, is to manipulate him as though he were a puppet and not a person."
Quote from 'A Wrinkle in Time' basically means don't take away people's choices.
Since I agree with Madeleine L'engle, that I must disagree with the Resolution that states: In the United States, national service ought to be compulsory.
Resolution is the debate topic. In this speech I disagree so I am arguing for the Negative side or the side that National Service shouldn't be compulsory

To promote a fair debate I offer the following definitions
Compulsory: Macmillan Dictionary defines compulsory as "Something that must be done because of a rule or law."
Something that is required

In addition, Macmillan Dictionary says that national service is "a period of compulsory service in the armed forces during peacetime"
Serving in army, military, navy, etc. Any armed forces.

Value: The value that I will be supporting on the negative side is Societal Welfare.
The value is something a society wants. Something good for it. Examples of such are equality, justice, peace, societal welfare, etc. Societal welfare is the wellbeing of society. Are the people happy? Is every supported in the society? Basically doing the best for a society or nation.
At the base of the United States is the citizens and their rights. If the government makes national service compulsory, the people lose their identity. If we want to do the best thing for the society, we will not make national service mandatory.
Basically a short reason why societal welfare is important and how mandatory national service would hurt it.

Criterion:  To uphold this value, I will be using the criterion Utilitarianism which is the philosophical perspective that we must do what promotes the most good for the most people.
Criterion is the moral weighing mechanism. It's what you use to uphold your value. In this instance, basically we can get more societal welfare if we do stuff that helps the most amount of people.

Below are contentions. They are the support and evidence of the value and criterion.

Contention 1: Mandatory Service is unconstitutional
Tagline or short summary of my contention
Our country's founding fathers wrote the Constitution to give citizens their rights, and for a mutual understanding of what is acceptable by both parties.
What we can and can't do, what is lawful and what is not.
In the Constitution it is never mentioned the citizens would be forced to do national service, in fact, the idea was intentionally omitted.
There's a reason mandatory service isn't mentioned in the constitution. It's not a good thing.
The 13th amendment states that: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
A quotation of the constitution, 13th amendment.

Below are subpoints they expand on the above contention

A) Greater government power
Compulsory service will increase government power.

Compulsory service would turn citizens into the government's pawns and restrict the freedom of choice granted to us by our constitution.
Take away freedoms
Mandatory service lies in direct opposition to the principles this country was founded on.
Principles like those mentioned in the constitution
Jacob Hornberger, founder and President of the Future of Freedom Foundation, warns that required service is the first step to tyranny. "We are not brought into the world to serve the state; the state is brought into existence by the people to serve us through the protection of our natural rights."
The state (or government) is there to help the people and protect them. The people are not there to serve the state.
In his book Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau states, "The best government is that which governs the least."
Less government power = better
The government should not see its people as means to an end, and mandatory service encourages this kind of thinking.
Government should not use people only for a purpose to reach a goal

b) Threatens independence
Compulsory service threatens people's independence and freedoms
Mandatory national service is a threat to the freedom and independence of American citizens. The government goes against its own outline (as spelled out in the Constitution) by restricting its citizens' right to freedom of choice.
Constitution is like and outline for the way government is run. Mandatory service goes against that.
It is possible to be patriotic and also recognize the problems in one's country.
A little line to go against a lot of AFF contentions
Most countries with conscription, such as Israel, Iran, and South Korea, are locked in a state of conflict with their neighbors. The governments of these countries have deemed conscription necessary in the interest of national security.
These countries need mandatory national service in order to be secure and safe from other countries. The US does not need it like they do.
It is one thing for there to be a draft during times of war, but in times of peace, no American citizen should be forced to do national service.
We are currently at peace and have no need for mandatory national service

Contention 2: Mandatory Service Undermines the efficiency and cohesion of the military
Mandatory service will make the military less efficient and will cause it to not work well

Military
Subpoint specifically about military

The U.S. military has come to a point of being able to serve for their country in a effective manner.
Military is well off
The United States does not need more soldiers who they would have to arm, feed, and cloth.
More people= more expenses
Everyone in the military wants to be there, and if the government forces people to join, it will not have the same effect.
People choose to join. If they are forced they don't feel as though they have to work as hard.
McCaffrey, a retired four-star Army general stated "My age group learned to love the volunteer military. (National Service) makes sense in a civic sense" (But) it would lead to lesser-quality soldiers. We've never had better soldiers in the country's history"
Soldiers are better if they choose to join military

Volunteerism
Subpoint about hurting volunteering. Especially volunteering to join military or other armed services

If the government forces the people to volunteer, it is no longer volunteering.
Mandatory service is not volunteeting
A volunteer, according to Oxford Dictionary, is a person who freely takes part in an enterprise or undertake a task. With mandatory service, the person does not have the choice to give their time to do something good for their society, they are forced to.
No choice. Forced
The government should put effort into encouraging citizens, not force them to do something against their will.
Encourage. Dont require.
Forcing volunteering will discourage people to continue to do good things later in life.
Discourages later volunteering

Conclusion: National service is a bad idea for the United States because it is unconstitutional, takes away the people's rights, gives the government more power, and undermines the military (and volunteering.)