Tournament: Districts | Round: 2 | Opponent: Wayne State LM | Judge: Brossmann, Heidt, Layton
Contention One – Presidentialism

Justifications for presidential war powers institutionalize a myth of super-heroism, promising hopeful redemption in the face of perceived threats to national security. Constant shifts between empathy and bluster form an expansionist ideology that uses crises as key moments and practical opportunities to assert authoritarian rule.  Identifying exceptional circumstances where war powers are justified creates an image of benign leadership that slowly eats away at the capacity for critical thinking and awareness.

Our primary responsibility is to cultivate critical awareness and strategic resistance to the permanent expansion of the imperial presidency.  Voting affirmative is an invitation to imagine things differently – to refuse uncritical acceptance of the president’s ability to resolve social problems on our behalf and instead take part in creating a new consciousness that contains our willingness to delegate responsibility for change onto institutional others.
Healy 8 (Gene, senior editor at the Cato Institute, Contributing Editor Liberty Magazine, J.D., University of Chicago Law School, “The Cult of the Presidency”, Reason Magazine, June, http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/cult-presidency)
The chief executive… of the presidency.

The Obama administration has transformed the cult of the presidency into a loaded weapon in an extra-constitutional arms race for control of life – the promise of executive salvation can never fully resolve our needs and yet such promises further solidify the presidency’s dominance over the political.
Healy 12 (Gene, senior editor at the Cato Institute, Contributing Editor Liberty Magazine, J.D., University of Chicago Law School, “Obama Has Taken the Cult of the Presidency to a Whole New Level”, Reason Magazine, 10/23, http://reason.com/archives/2012/10/23/obama-has-taken-the-cult-of-the-presiden)
In the spring…presidents to wield.

Presidential war powers inflate the cult of the presidency – painting areas for presidential responsibility gives the expansion of wartime authority a dangerous twist.  Treating the president as the symbol and solution for the nation’s woes creates rising expectations for authority, expectations that manifest themselves in unlimited adventurism and abuse.
Bandow 8 (Doug, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, specializing in foreign policy and civil liberties, former special assistant to President Reagan, “The Cult of the Presidency”, 6/14, http://original.antiwar.com/doug-bandow/2008/06/13/the-cult-of-the-presidency/)
Alas, both parties…presidential adventurism abroad.”

Democide is the ultimate impact – it is the equivalent of nuclear war, it sanctions all forms of violence and is responsible for the vast majority of history’s death and destruction.
Rummel 94 (RJ, Professor Emeritus at University of Hawaii, “Death By Government”, http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/DBG.CHAP1.HTM)
Power kills, absolute…of the Dead. .

Presidentialism thrives on our expectations that the president will exercise super-hero powers to resolve the nation’s ills.  Each legitimizing instance of the president’s accomplishments, whether in the form of warfighting, legislative achievements or progressive unilateral action, serves to reinforce the unlimited expansion of executive power.  Selective skepticism towards presidential authority doesn’t go far enough to challenge our intellectual investment in presidentialism.
Leef 8 (George, research director of the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, former adjunct professor of law and economics, Northwood University, and former scholar with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, “The Cult of Executive Power”, The Future of Freedom Foundation, 6/1, http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/cult-executive-power/)
In The Cult…be a disaster.

PLAN

The war powers authority of the President of the United States in the topically-designated areas should be abolished.

Contention Two – Civic Participation

Decentering presidentialism requires an activation of the radical potential to re-orient individual and collective politics.  Reject the symbolism of executive power that gives the President super-hero capabilities – our advocacy allows us to mold radical proposals by imagining and debating differently.  Use this debate space to imagine a different world of governmental power where we adopt do-able proposals like the plan as a jumping off point for acts of civic participation that de-center centralized presidential authority.
Nelson 12 (Dana, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English at Vanderbilt University, “Barriers against Democracy: Rethinking the Nation’s Founding: An Interview with Dana Nelson”, Spectra: The Aspect Journal, Interview conducted by Yanka Petkova, Reed Taylor, and Mike Butera,  Virginia Tech University, 11/17, http://spectrajournal.org/2012/11/17/barriers-against-democracy-rethinking-the-nations-founding-an-interview-with-dana-nelson/)
Q: What was the…of the world.

Its try or die for the affirmative’s method.  The negative’s framework interpretation eradicates the space for civic agency and radically democratic practice – willfully turning our agency over to a political representative sustains the centralization of power that makes political activism wholly ineffective and actively participates in the de-politicization of the debate space.  Vote affirmative to re-energize our model of agency that actively participants in the construction of new thought and practice.
Nelson 12 (Dana, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English at Vanderbilt University, “Barriers against Democracy: Rethinking the Nation’s Founding: An Interview with Dana Nelson”, Spectra: The Aspect Journal, Interview conducted by Yanka Petkova, Reed Taylor, and Mike Butera,  Virginia Tech University, 11/17, http://spectrajournal.org/2012/11/17/barriers-against-democracy-rethinking-the-nations-founding-an-interview-with-dana-nelson/)
One of the…expect some success.

No matter the form, unilateral presidential action reinforces presidentialism by providing ideological ammunition for the conservative expansion of unitary executive theory.
Nelson 8 (Dana, professor of American studies at Vanderbilt University, “The ‘unitary executive’ question”, LA Times, 10/11, http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-nelson11-2008oct11,0,224216.story#axzz2k1XHH2wX)
Plenty of presidents…pressure and scrutiny.

Presidentialism robs us of our political agency to engage in politics on a daily level.  The question is NOT which president is in office or whether or not the president exercises activism or restraint, but rather how we use this debate space to nurture and cultivate the critical sensibilities that animate our everyday experience.  Democracy is our job and engaging in self-governing political debates overcomes our obsession with presidentialism and allows us to reclaim our politicalness.
Nelson 6 (Dana, Professor of English and American Studies at Vanderbilt University, “The President and Presidentialism”, South Atlantic Quarterly, 105(1), Winter)
The convergence of…arguments of others.