- Statement of SIGNIFICANCE
- The state of transportation in the United States is entirely different from that of most other industrialized nations. Because of America’s lower population densities and the lack of a comprehensive federal transportation policy governing both freight and personal transport, there is widespread use of the automobile in the United States. The transportation network of the United States is responsible for huge inefficiencies, adverse environmental impacts, and bears important consequences for how cities and suburbs are planned. As oil supplies become less reliable and renewed focus is placed on global warming, a significant rethink of federal transportation policy becomes all the more urgent. Trillions of dollars of goods pass over rails, roads, water, and the air every year, and virtually all Americans make use of airports, rails, or roads on a daily basis. The transportation system holds together the United States economically and socially.
- Statement of INTEREST, PROVOCATIVENESS, CHALLENGE & EDUCATION
- The interstate commerce clause of the constitution has traditionally given the federal government a strong hand in shaping transportation policy. Transportation policy allows debaters to run a wide variety of cases, many involving the adoption of different technologies, but also cases involving safety, planning, procedure, and infrastructure. While some cases from recent topics might conceivably be used in this one, the overlap is very small. Transportation policy will give debaters the opportunity to deal with such policy-oriented issues as jurisdiction, technology, urban planning, and so forth. These are all critical for understanding public policy, and discussion of transportation policy gives debaters the opportunity to analyze (sub-)urban design and how policy affects the environment in which we all live. The social and cultural impacts of transportation cannot be underestimated, and it is time that the community begin to explore them.
- Possible resolutions:
- Resolved: That the United States Federal Government (USFG) should adopt a policy to promote the expansion of transportation infrastructure in the United States.
- Resolved: That the USFG should alter its national/regional transportation policy.
- Resolved: That the USFG should increase alternatives to automobile transportation.
- Resolved: That the USFG should adopt a policy to promote the use of mass transit.
- Resolved: That the USFG should promote mass transit.
- Resolved: That the USFG should alter its current policy in one or more of the following areas: pipelines, freight rail, passenger rail, interstate highways, trucking, or shipping.
- Possible Affirmative cases:
- New train systems
- Defederalization of interstate highways
- Re-regulation of airlines
- Amend “common carrier” rule
- Privatization/splitting/expansion of Amtrak
- Gas tax
- Promotion of commuter rail systems
- Possible Negative positions
- Federalism DA
- Spending/budget DA
- States CP
- Capitalism/Statism Kritik
- Environment DA
- Resources:
- US Department of Transportation (http://www.dot.gov/)
- Surface Transportation Policy Project (http://www.transact.org/)
- Mineta Transportation Institute (this website has some excellent links on the topic) (http://transweb.sjsu.edu/)
- Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management (http://www.nyu.edu/wagner/transportation/)
- Some books on the subject include:
- Alternate Route: Toward Efficient Urban Transportation, by Clifford Winston and Chad Shirley. The book takes a free-market approach to transportation policy.
- Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream, by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Jeff Speck. This book takes a look at how post-war planning in the United States precipitated the rise of sprawl and how that affects the daily lives of most Americans. Just as importantly, it outlines some possible solutions as well.
Links to 2008-2009 Topic Papers
