Tournament:  | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge: 

1nc

—-The affirmative’s view of energy as interchangeable units collapses the political by obfuscating structures of consumption. Energy policy becomes a rigged game requiring the annihilation of the environment, poverty and exploitation of billions.

Hildyard Lohmann %26 Sexton 2012
Nicholas, founder and Director of The Corner House, Larry, author of the book "Carbon Trading: A Critical Conversation on Climate Change, Privatization and Power" %26 works at the British NGO The Corner House, Sarah, a director of The Corner House, Energy Security For What? For Whom? The Corner House, http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/resource/energy-security-whom-what
In sum, encouraging a rational debate about "energy security" necessitates understanding what
AND
policymakers and social movements must ask when initiating any discussion of energy security.

—-The impact is extinction —- Collapse of politics proper risks hyper-industrial Armageddon.

Illich 1974
Ivan, Austrian philosopher, Roman Catholic priest, and "maverick social critic" of the institutions of contemporary western culture, Energy and Equity, http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/energy-and-equity-ivan-illich/
I will argue here that technocracy must prevail as soon as the ratio of mechanical
AND
industrial-minded planners bent on keeping industrial production at some hypothetical maximum.

—-The alternative is to repoliticize energy politics; shifting the focus from perfecting structures of oppression to debating the desirability of existing energy structures in the first place.

Swyngedouw 2009
Erik, School of Environment and Development, Manchester University, The Antinomies of the Postpolitical City: In Search of a Democratic Politics of Environmental Production, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Volume 33, Issue 3, pages 601–620
Live Earth concerts, waving the banner of climate change and urging the world’s leaders
AND
presence of power relations and competing interests (Dikeç, 2005: 172).

Overview —- 2nc Energy Impact

—-Depoliticizing energy production makes extinction inevitable —- Extend Illich —- Only political contestation can create the limits required to preserve the global biosphere and prevent the creation and use of world ending technology such as nuclear weapons.

—-Specifically, failing to challenge the political structure of global energy production and consumption causes global war.

Byrne %26 Toly 2006
John, director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy (CEEP) and Distinguished Professor of Public Policy at the University of Delaware, Noah, research associate and Ph.D. candidate in the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Delaware, Energy as a Social Project: Recovering a Discourse, Transforming Power: Energy, Environment and Society in Conflict, pg
 Remaining modern, however, also demands an increasing commitment to override what lags
AND
will, in all likelihood, force further needs to militarize its operations.

—-This violence comparatively outweighs the aff in terms of both magnitude and probability —- Collapse of the political makes enmity invisible and genocidal.

Reinhard 2004
Kenneth, UCLA, Towards a Political-Theology of the Neighbor (Draft), Google Cache
If the concept of the political is defined, as Carl Schmitt does, in
AND
ultimately appeasing contours, because they would be identifiable" (PF 83). 

—-Makes solvency impossible —- Failure to politicize energy security naturalizes inequality sparking localistic, nationalist and religious backlash. Instead of promoting "energy security" we need to ask "energy security for who?"

Hildyard Lohmann %26 Sexton 2012
Nicholas, founder and Director of The Corner House, Larry, author of the book "Carbon Trading: A Critical Conversation on Climate Change, Privatization and Power" %26 works at the British NGO The Corner House, Sarah, a director of The Corner House, Energy Security For What? For Whom? The Corner House, http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/resource/energy-security-whom-what
One of the ironies of upper-case Energy Security is that it is unavoidably
AND
"scarce", accumulation of more Security is only making it more so.

Nuclear Power —- 2nc Energy Link

—-Privileging nuclear power treats radioactive material as interchangeable objects to be controlled and manipulated. This technocratic rationalization makes nuclear war inevitable.

Kovel 1984
Joel, The Culture of Technocracy, Against the State of Nuclear Terror, pg 107, http://www.colorado.edu/ReligiousStudies/chernus/4820-ColdWarCulture/Readings/AgainstTheStateOfNuclearTerror.pdf
Nuclear weaponry is not just an aberration but the logical result of an entire attitude
AND
any serious question of whether or not to drop the bomb on Hiroshima. 

====—-Nuclear power demands totalitarianism —- Depoliticized demands for increased energy production provide cover for expanded surveillance and state coercion. ====
Sovacool 2006
Benjamin, doctoral candidate in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute %26 State University, Reactors, Weapons, X-Rays, and Solar Panels: Using SCOT, Technological Frame, Epistemic Culture, and Actor Network Theory to Investigate Technology, Journal of Technical Studies, http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JOTS/v32/v32n1/sovacool.html
The methodological approach called the social construction of technology (SCOT) suggests that technological
AND
also embedding social values related to wealth, electricity consumption, and progress.

A2 Nuclear

> Economic Progressivism —- 2nc Energy Link===

—-The argument that nuclear power is key to economic stability/progressive politics is an ideological not factual claim that masks the structural basis for American inequality behind a fog of technological management.

Nelson 1984
Lin, PROMISE HER EVERYTHING: THE NUCLEAR POWER INDUSTRY’S AGENDA FOR WOMEN, Feminist Studies, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Summer, 1984), pp. 291-314
With media proclamations that "nuclear may be dead," the industry is defending itself
AND
to simple energy blackmail: no nukes, no jobs. .. .11 

Reps 1^st

—-Framing determines policy effectiveness —- 90% of policy errors emerge from the flawed and deterministic lens of security.

Lowth 2011
Colonel R. G., British Army, ’Securitization’ and its effect on Strategic Thinking, SEAFORD HOUSE PAPER, Royal Defense Studies
A frame is ’a perspective from which a problematic situation can be made sense
AND
but caries ’real-world’ significance’ (Hough, 2004:14).

A2 Permutation Do Both —- 2nc Energy Alt

—-The permutation’s pragmatic combination fails because it still allows the debate to be framed by "energy production" which taints the affirmative’s ability to define problems and create solutions outside of existing structures of global inequality.

Hildyard Lohmann %26 Sexton 2012
Nicholas, founder and Director of The Corner House, Larry, author of the book "Carbon Trading: A Critical Conversation on Climate Change, Privatization and Power" %26 works at the British NGO The Corner House, Sarah, a director of The Corner House, Energy Security For What? For Whom? The Corner House, http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/resource/energy-security-whom-what
For time-pressed, slogan-bound, "must-be-ready
AND
) are making a transition away from fossil fuels far harder to achieve.

—-Permutations themselves are a link —- The knee jerk reaction to combine fundamentally opposed positions into one happy consensus and replaces the antagonisms constitutive of political space with the vacuous notion of a "best policy option." Permutations can only steamroll true politics because in its rush to include everything, it leaves no space for opposition or dissensus.

Swyngedouw 2009
Erik, Geography @ School of Environment and Development Manchester University, Climate Change as Post-Political and Post-Democratic Populism, Paper presented at DVPW conference, Kiel, Germany, 22-25 September
Consensually established concerns, like climate change, structured around ecologies of fear — threats
AND
, most importantly, for the naming different possible socio-environmental futures.

Tournament: T Restrictions  | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge:
1nc t
A. Definition
Reduce means to diminish in size or number.

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary 2010, Britannica Online
Reduce: to diminish in size, amount, extent, or number
B. Violation
First, Restriction is the authority to confine energy production

Word Net 3.1
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=restriction-http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=restriction

Noun

S: thumb_down restriction, limitation (a principle that limits the extent of something) "I am willing to accept certain restrictions on my movements"
S: thumb_down limitation, restriction (an act of limiting or restricting (as by regulation))
S: thumb_down restriction, confinement (the act of keeping something within specified bounds (by force if necessary)) "the restriction of the infection to a focal area"
Second, the plan transfers who gets to decide on offshore wind restrictions, it doesn’t reduce

Salt Lake Tribune 8/23/12
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/54752320-90/drilling-energy-federal-gas.html.csp-http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/54752320-90/drilling-energy-federal-gas.html.csp/

Washington • Mitt Romney’s proposed energy blueprint, which he says will wean America off
AND
oil and gas drilling, bypassing federal land management plans and environmental guidelines.
C. Negative Interpretation is Superior
Limits-there interpretation explodes the topic by allowing any number of cases that transfer or change restrictions instead of reducing them.
Ground-their interpretation undermines core negative ground by allowing them to no link out of arguments like energy Das by claiming state regulation solve the link. It also creates a range of unpredictable advantages off authority
D. Topicality is a voting issue

Tournament:  | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge:
A. Uniqueness-Russian PNTR will pass in the lame-duck-has the votes and Obama will push
Inside U.S. Trade 9/21/12
HEADLINE: KIRK CALLS ON CONGRESS TO PASS RUSSIA MFN ’IMMEDIATELY’ UPON RETURN BODY:
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk this week called on Congress to pass
AND
merely cited for political cover ahead of the election, this source said.
B. Links

Energy debates drain capital
National Journal 12 ("Former Sen. Trent Lott, Ex-Rep. Jim Davis Bemoan Partisanship on Energy Issues" http://www.nationaljournal.com/2012-election/former-members-bemoan-partisanship-on-energy-issues-20120829)
In a climate where everything from transportation issues to the farm bill have gotten caught
AND
Congress is gridlocked because of who is there.… The middle is gone."

Narrow agenda key to productive session. Empirically, Obama overreaching threatens to collapse lame-duck.
Miniter-investigative journalist-12
Leading from Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him p.85

After the historic defeat, Axelrod went on to teach a course called Campaign Strategy
AND
. Congress was exhausted and didn’t want to take any more political risks.
C. Impact

Failure makes Russia lashout
Milov et al 3/14/12  (Sergey Aleksashenko Political Council member, People’s Freedom Party (Parnas) Alexander Lebedev Independent businessman and politician Vladimir Milov Leader, "Democratic Choice" movement Alexey Navalny Attorney and civil activist Boris Nemtsov Co-chairman, People’s Freedom Party (Parnas), "Solidarity" movement Ilya Ponomarev State Duma member, Just Russia Party Vladimir Ryzhkov Co-chairman, People’s Freedom Party (Parnas) "Remove Russia from Jackson-Vanik%21"
Removal of Russia from the provisions of the Cold War era Jackson-Vanik Amendment
AND
Bill 1039). It is time to remove Russia from Jackson-Vanik%21 

Causes nuclear war and extinction
Israelyan 98 Victor was a Soviet ambassador, diplomat, arms control negotiator, and leading political scientist. The Washington Quarterly, Winter)
The first and by far most dangerous possibility is what I call the power scenario
AND
be able to stumble on, until we all fall down together." n12

Tournament:  | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge:
1nc Policy
Text —- The United States federal government should hold a binding national policy referendum over whether to _ and should implement the result.
—-National referendums are insulated from political controversy.
Suksi 1993
Markku, Professor of law at Abo Akademi University, Bringing in the People, pg 12
A policy vote, again, is often characterized by a transference of the political
AND
, as a matter of fact, in a positive-sum solution.  
—-Genuine citizen engagement in energy policy formation is critical to solvency.
Hendriks 2009
Carolyn M., Crawford School of Economics and Government @ Australia National University, Securing public legitimacy for long-term energy reforms, PUBLIC POLICY NETWORK CONFERENCETHE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, CANBERRA29-30 JANUARY
Integrate policy development with empowered forms of citizen engagement A more radical strategy would be
AND
have to reconsider their views on the role of citizens in energy politics.
—-The impact is extinction.
Cox 2012
William John, retired police officer, prosecutor, public interest lawyer, author and political activist, Global Research - Political Transformation in America: Effectuating Real Democracy by a Voters’ Rights Amendment, http://thevoters.org/
A National Policy Referendum can produce a number of positive results: First, the
AND
democracy is no longer an option. It is a matter of survival%21
1nc Critique
Text —- The United States federal government should hold a binding national policy referendum over whether to _ and should implement the result.
—-Genuine citizen engagement in energy policy formation is critical to solvency.
Hendriks 2009
Carolyn M., Crawford School of Economics and Government @ Australia National University, Securing public legitimacy for long-term energy reforms, PUBLIC POLICY NETWORK CONFERENCETHE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, CANBERRA29-30 JANUARY
Integrate policy development with empowered forms of citizen engagement A more radical strategy would be
AND
have to reconsider their views on the role of citizens in energy politics.
—-Engagement with the people is a prerequisite to larger social change.
Löwy 2009
Michael, Fellow of the IIRE in Amsterdam and former research director of the French National Council for Scientific Research, Climate Change - a contribution to the debate, IV Online magazine : IV418, http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article1741
Ecosocialist planning must be based on democratic and pluralist debate, at every level of
AND
result of their struggles, their self-education and their social experience.
—-The impact is American imperialism.
Cox 2012
William John, retired police officer, prosecutor, public interest lawyer, author and political activist, Global Research - Political Transformation in America: Effectuating Real Democracy by a Voters’ Rights Amendment, http://thevoters.org/
A National Policy Referendum can produce a number of positive results: First, the
AND
democracy is no longer an option. It is a matter of survival%21
K Aff (S)/A2 Imagination —- 2nc Solvency
—-Political consultation with the public is key to solve the affirmative —- Extend Löwy —- Only engagement with the people can mobilize the political involvement necessary to create support for the structural and attitudinal change necessary to solve <whatever>.
—-The plan restricts the creation of future possibilities to limited party politics —- Only the counterplan solves their imagination good claims by opening political discussion up to the people.
Gare 2003
Arran, Swinburne University social sciences professor, Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia, Ph.D. from Murdoch University, "Beyond Social Democracy? Beyond Social Democracy?" Democracy and Nature, 9(3), http://www.inclusivedemocracy.org/journal/vol1/vol1_no3_gare_PRINTABLE.htm
The point of offering such a model is not to prescribe how people should organize
AND
brutalization, but also the destruction of the ecological conditions of their existence.

A2 Tyranny of the Majority —- 2nc Solvency
—-Majorities re-align and the Courts protect rights —- No right of majority abuses.
Bowler 2008  
UC Riverside- and Glazer- Author "Why Gov’t succeeds and why it fails" Direct Democracy’s Impact on American Political Institutions, "Hybrid Democracy and its Consequences" pg. 8
Some observers argue that the majority-rule aspect of direct democracy means that voters
AND
the rights of the minority are protected from both direct and representative democracy.
—-Counterplan solves —- Direct democracy is the best alternative for autonomy maximization.
Budge 1996
Ian, Prof @ U. of Essex, The New Challenge of Direct Democracy, p. 11-12
However, one can also see possible difficulties in the argument for choice based on
AND
however, they leave the other justifications for participation with considerable overall validity.
A2 Perm Do Both —- 2nc Solvency
—-The permutation links to the internal net benefit —- Only committing to implement the will of the people mobilizes voter participation.
Duvivier 2006
KK associate professor at the University of Denver College of Law, THE UNITED STATES AS A DEMOCRATIC IDEAL? INTERNATIONAL LESSONS IN REFERENDUM DEMOCRACY, Legal Research Paper Series, Working Paper No. 07-13, http://ssrn.com/abstract= 960319
In contrast to votes that bind in legal terms, some referendums are only advisory
AND
ithin a decade . . . appears to have fallen into desuetude."176
—-Turn —- Leaks
(A.) The lie permutation will be leaked.
Washington Times 2012
Obama, the leaker in chief, The Washington Times, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jun/8/obama-the-leaker-in-chief/
Even very liberal legislators are worried about the brewing crisis of administration staff leaks.
AND
thing," former CIA bin Laden hunter Michael Scheur said at the time.
(B.) Err negative —- Referendum process creates informed citizens with a strong incentive to expose lying politicians.
Feld %26 Kirchgassner 2000
Lars P., UniÍersity of St. Gallen, SIAW-HSG, Institutsgebaude, Gebhard, Corresponding Author, Direct democracy, political culture, and the outcome of economic policy: a report on the Swiss experience, European Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 16, 287–306
According to our analysis in the previous sections, direct legislation in Switzerland is basically
AND
. Both mechanisms are expected to lead to differences in economic policy decisions.
—-The permutation links to politics —- Non binding referendums shift the decision-making burden back onto the government and precludes political shielding.
Butler %26 Ranney 1994
David, American Enterprise Institute and Austin, prof. emeritus @ UC Berkeley, Referendums Around the World, "Theory," p. 260
6. Frequent recourse to referendums can contribute to a special political culture in which
AND
across established lines of political cleavage, in formal or informal umbrella organizations.

(B.) Links to direct democracy —- Rejecting representative government is an ethical obligation —- Every instance of direct democracy is key.
Robinson 2007
Nick, Yale Law School, J.D., Citizens Not Subjects: U.S. Foreign Relations Law and the Decentralization of Foreign Policy, Akron Law Review, 40 Akron L. Rev. 647
The argument in this article for local democratic participation is also, perhaps primarily,
AND
take into account governance’s transcendent depths and not just its readily chartable currents.

General Frontline —- 2nc Say Yes
—-Public says yes —- Voters support domestic energy production.
Skorobogatov 2012
Yana, intern with StateImpact Texas, Poll: Consumers Favor Domestic Energy Production, Natural Gas, http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/04/10/poll-consumers-favor-domestic-energy-production-natural-gas/
Americans will likely take their views on energy issues to the voting booth this November, according to a new national poll by The University of Texas at Austin. The survey found that 65 percent of respondents considered energy to be an important presidential issue. The results suggest that overall, consumers favor policies that would increase domestic energy production.
—-We still solve even if they say no —- National referendums allow minority interests to be articulated creating support for impossible political changes like the plan.
Frey 2003
Bruno S., Professor at the institute for empirical research in economics at the University of Zurich, Direct Democracy for transition countries, http://www.bsfrey.ch/articles/400_03.pdf
The question of which side gets a majority in a referendum is not the only
AND
which before the referendum were considered to be impossible to achieve by everyone. 

A2 Highjacked By Elites —- 2nc Say Yes
—-Statistical data concludes against the propensity for elite cooption.
Matsusaka 2005
John G., Professor of Finance and Business Economics in the Marshall School of Business, Professor of Business and Law in the Law School, and President of the Initiative %26 Referendum Institute, all at the University of Southern California, Direct Democracy Works, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Volume 19, Number 2, Spring pg. 185–206
Despite the concerns of special interest subversion, the evidence generally shows that direct democracy
AND
concerned, the initiative appears to have delivered policies desired by the majority.
A2 Highjacked By Media —- 2nc Say Yes
—-Empirically disproven —- Voters can break with media opinion.
Rourke et al. 1992
John, University of Connecticut, Richard Hiskes, and Cyrus Ernesto Zirakzadeh, Direct Democracy and International Politics, p. 174
What about the impact of modern electronic media? It would be foolish to argue
AND
to determine the outcome of a referendum, especially in a close vote.

Nuclear Power —- 2nc Say Yes
—-The people will vote yes —- Nuclear power has three times as many strong supporters than opponents.
WNA 2012
World Nuclear Association, US Nuclear Power Policy, August, http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf41_US_nuclear_power_policy.html
Public opinion regarding nuclear power has generally been fairly positive, and has grown more
AND
and job creation; and 77% associate nuclear energy and clean air.

Ethics 

Open Source