Debating the Burke Society!

As some of you may already have heard, a few of our brave number have taken up the task of initiating a battle of reason and ideas against the UVA's Conservative debating organization, Burke Society. Although we, of course, have the advantage when it comes to having a consistent and well thought out philosophy, we can't afford to underestimate the rhetorical skills and debating experience of the Burke Society. Therefore at this week's Classical Liberal Roundtable I invite you all to proffer the very best arguments you can summon up in defense of Liberty.

The issue to debate are the "Moral and Ethical Basis of Government Involvement in Social Issues". This gives us a wide field to play in and I expect us to be able to gather quite a few great arguments and real world examples in support of those arguments.

We should also keep in mind who we will be debating when collecting our most potent arguments. Keeping in mind that the Burke Society, like any modern conservative group, will be used to debating modern Liberal ideas which are, at best, based on a subjective utilitarian calculus instead of truly solid principles like the ones Libertarians can bring forth. Therefore I suggest we stress our principles and ethics rather then simply trying to argue for why Liberty is better for pragmatic reasons. Hopefully in this way we can use the Burke Society's debate experience against them to catch them off guard by using arguments they've never had to face before.

Another strategy we might want to keep in mind is that there are some issues that the conservatives demand liberty in, and we can use those cases to show them how their arguments are inconsistent and which actually aid the cause of the Statist Democrats. For example since we are talking about the role of government in social issues we can again catch the Burke Society off guard by arguing for stronger gun rights. We should keep in mind that our goal is not merely to defeat them, but to convince them.

Even if you, yourself, are not one of those lucky few who volunteered to participate in this debate, this will be your chance to indirectly help us fight for the cause of human Liberty. I look forward to that this weekend!