BeIR/webis-touche2020 huggingface dataset:
The United States should abolish the Capital Gains Tax.

We affirm. Resolved, the United States should abolish the Capital Gains Tax. Framework: Economic benefits outweigh all others Our sole argument is small businesses Forbes Magazine in 2017 reports that small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, as they make up 99% of all firms and over half of the employment. Abolishing the capital gains tax would help small businesses in two ways. First, it encourages Venture Capitalism Specifically, Kai Ryssdal17 of Emory University explains that venture capitalists specialize in small business investment as they"re willing to take risks by investing in young firms. As a result, Ryssdal finds that over 20% of US Small Businesses are funded by venture capitalists. Conversely, for high growth start-ups, Mohendra Gupta of Stanford University explains that venture capitalists are important because they ensure long-term investments and better opportunities for future funding. Unfortunately, Ernst Young in 2015 of the Alliance for Savings and Investment reports that the capital gains tax discourages venture capitalism funding due to the high costs for a small reward. Ultimately, abolishing the capital gains tax is key to increasing venture capitalism as Paul Gompers14 of Harvard University explains that a 1 percent decrease in the capital gains tax increases venture capitalism by 3.8 percent. Second is through reducing investment abroad Diana Roth15 of the Manhattan Institute explains that high capital gains tax rates encourage the flow of investment outside of the US and into foreign markets. Accordingly, Todd Mason14 of the American Enterprise Institute finds that the United States has a capital gains tax rate over 10% higher than the OECD average. In fact, James Jackson17 of the Congressional Research Service concludes that investment abroad increased 4.5 times more under the high taxes of Obama compared to the low taxes of Bush. Fortunately, Eric Toder12 of the Brookings Institute finds that by abolishing the capital gains tax, the United States would become a more desirable location for small businesses because it would give them a fair competitive stance in the market against the current big businesses. Supporting small businesses is important because it creates jobs. Phil Krepen95 of the Institute for Policy Innovation finds that historically, small business growth has surged during times of low capital gains taxation. Increasing the growth of small businesses is imperative for job growth as David Robinson17 of Duke University explains that previously missed attempts at funding small businesses could provide for 85,000 new jobs annually. Accordingly, Michael Mazerov16 of the Center for Budget for Policy and Priorities reports that small business jobs are critical as they"re historically more sustainable and longer lasting. Karen Campbell of the Heritage foundation thus finds that repealing the capital gains tax will send a strong signal that the US is open for business. For all these reasons I am incredibly proud to affirm.
Prostitution should be legalised

Thank you Panda for your response. I will also like to apologize for my delayed response. Now to rebuttals... My opponent started this round by stating that prostitution is victimless. This, however, is untrue. There are always two parties involved, the prostitute and the client. The client has no way of knowing who the prostitute had slept with previously so the client also shares a risk of contracting various STD's just as the prostitute does. Secondly, my opponent goes on to mention the STD rates among prostitutes. While the rates are low, there are still possibilities of the viruses spreading. In many Asian countries for example, the STD rates among prostitutes is quite high. For example, in Vietnam it is estimated that 49% of sex workers who inject drugs are also HIV positive(8% for those who do not inject drugs). There are similar trends in India with 8% of sex workers being infected with HIV, which is estimated to be a rate nine times higher than those among Indian adults. http://www.avert.org... Thirdly, my opponent goes on to talk about abusive pimps. Even if the sex industry is legalized there would be little stopping these pimps from abusing prostitutes. If a person wants to engage in criminal activity then they will. It's like how criminals choose to get guns despite the fact they're illegal. If prostitution became legal there would also have to be stricter laws implemented in order to protect the people involved. This would include implementing stricter laws against rape as a prostitute should have a right to choose who to have intercourse with. Lastly, while there are men who work as prostitutes it is almost exclusively a female trade with only about 20% being males. http://www.bayswan.org... This can pose a problem as females are usually more vulnerable to violence and abuse. These female prostitutes could be misused. I'll now pass this on to my opponent once again. Good luck. :)
Prostitution should be legalised

Good luck to both of us! I'll like to begin by saying that prostitution should not be legalized. Firstly, my opponent gives reasons against this, the first being economic benefits. While it's true that revenue could come from such services is it really that significant of a difference? How would it be any different if any other service was legalized? For example, legalizing marijuana across the United States and taxing it would generate between $10 billion and $14 billion annually alone. . http://www.prohibitioncosts.org... Not only is this a significant amount, but it's also now a victimless crime. Secondly, my opponent moves on to discuss worker and societal benefits of prostitution. Legalizing prostitution could lead to problems in these areas such as STD's, unwanted pregnancies, abusive pimps, etc. Legalizing prostitution would also lead to empowering pimps. They would be able to unrestrictedly engage in sex trade activities with little regulation, many of whom do it against their will. Legalizing prostitution also means legalizing pimps. These same pimps may also be engaged in other activities such as the drug trade which is illegal. A prostitute working for a pimp may also be greatly restricted in where she can go, whom she can see, and even abuse her for disobeying. . http://www.prostitutionresearch.com... Another issue worth noting is the fact that in many cases, prostitution can led to the objectification of women. This is of particular concern to feminists, many of whom oppose prostitution on those grounds. . http://www.feministissues.com... Lastly, there is the issue of STD's. According to some studies the rates of STD's among women in prostitution is much higher, some as high as 85% coming into contact with some form of sexually transmitted disease. . http://www.uri.edu... Although a much smaller number of these cases are serious it would no doubt be uncomfortable walking around with these viruses. Another problem would be the risk of spreading them among other clients. Both the client and the prostitute would be at risk rather than just the prostitute. Now to my opponent. .. Good luck.
Prostitution should be legalised

I will be basing this argument from this former debate of mine as an opening argument . http://www.debate.org... === PRO ARGUMENTS === ECONOMIC BENEFITS: If Prostitution was legalised, the government could regulate it and tax it. It would create more revenue for the government through this. Furthermore, it would add another legal market to the economy and lead for a bigger economy for the nation which legalises it. The legalisation of Prostitution has benefited many countries which legalised it economically, and is a significant percentage of economic activity. "The prostitution industry accounts for 5% of the GDP of the Netherlands, between 1 and 3% of Japanese GDP and in 1998, the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated that prostitution accounted for between 2 and 14% of the total economic activity in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines" - . http://sisyphe.org... WORKER BENEFITS: The legalisation of prostitution would lead to better working conditions for prostitutes. The legalisation of prostitution has led to better health conditions in countries which legalise it, such as Senegal: "In Senegal, HIV prevalence among pregnant women has been below 1% for more than a decade. A strong multisectoral response, an effective STD control programme and early legalization of prostitution have been credited for this low level. Special clinical services, for example, offer regular examination and treatment for registered sex workers. Not only has there been a significant decline in STD rates among sex workers and pregnant women between 1991 and 1996, but genital ulcers are also no longer common and chancroid is reportedly rare. " - . http://www.liberator.net... This shows that when the sex industry is legalised and regulated, the workers within it are less prone to STD's than in the illegal sex industry. SOCIETAL BENEFITS: There is a general reduction in violence and criminal activities with the legalisation of prostitution, and a lower crime rates in accordance with the level of punishment given to prostitution. "It is unknown if there is a correlation between laws that prohibit sex and higher crime rates, but the reverse appears to be more enlightening. The countries where prostitution is legal do not suffer from a high number of violent crimes. " - . http://www.liberator.net... CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the legalisation of prostitution leads to a bigger economy, better conditions for workers, and generally a reduced crime rate.
Special DDO Challenge: No words allowed

I'm not sure why, but my opponent has clearly broken the rules by using sentences.'One important rule though....... you may not communicate with written words. You must find a way to argue me, without any written letters or numbers in any form. We are a go....'I give up. If my opponent is making rules that do not apply to him, but apply to me, then I have no wish to debate with him. Thank you.My opponent is obviously confused, and put a lack of effort into reading the acceptance round. If he read it, he would of noticed a couple things."You will be pro for whatever topic you pick.""You may not communicate with written words." "You must find a way to argue me, without any written letters or numbers in any form"I think what he thought that "you", applied to me as well. While this is a common mistake people make , it is also an error. Due to the distortion of how we lightly use the American language, I find it essential we use words correctly. I hope my opponent can come back next round, now that he is clarified on the actual rules. Or if not, then I request the round be scrapped as a conduct violation.
Special DDO Challenge: No words allowed

I'm not sure why, but my opponent has clearly broken the rules by using sentences. 'One important rule though....... you may not communicate with written words. You must find a way to argue me, without any written letters or numbers in any form. We are a go....' I give up. If my opponent is making rules that do not apply to him, but apply to me, then I have no wish to debate with him. Thank you.
Special DDO Challenge: No words allowed

Rebuttals------------- http://csinteractivestudio.com......http://netdna.webdesignerdepot.com......http://upload.wikimedia.org......Yes, I too appreciate the debate. Thanks for accepting. http://commonsenseatheism.com......http://www.factofun.com......http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net......http://wp.streetwise.co......I disagree that Pizza is better then tacos. According to this random internet poll, 66% of people find Tacos better then Pizza.http://halo.bungie.net...http://static.guim.co.uk......http://tinyurl.com......I'm not sure what these pictures mean, but I'm sure the audience wont either. Now more evidence. According to this source, Taco Bell, a fast food service which sells both Pizza and Tacos items, makes more money on tacos then pizza. Please explain that.http://xfinity.comcast.net...http://www.factofun.com......http://www.adzuna.co.uk......http://data1.whicdn.com......http://wp.streetwise.co......So, by my opponents logic, Pizza is better then Scooby slurping up cotton candy next to a taco. My opponenent is doing little more then rambling at this point. Now, according to fox news, Taco Bell is peoples 4th favorite fast food. And we already established that they sell more taco's then pizza.http://www.foxnews.com...http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com...It seems my opponent is trying to insult my intelligence. This is unacceptable, and I demand he be stripped of the conduct point.That guy is obviously some kind of inside joke that he's using to laugh at me over the internet. Symbolism.- 1 conduct point pleasehttp://www.factofun.com......http://findicons.com......http://www.naturally-healthy-eating.com......http://wp.streetwise.co......My opponent is dead wrong. According to Yahoo, the majority of people say tacos are better for you.http://answers.yahoo.com...Since the rest of my opponents arguments don't make sense, I will skip them. I suggest that he uses clearer pics in the future.
Special DDO Challenge: No words allowed

http://csinteractivestudio.com... http://netdna.webdesignerdepot.com... http://upload.wikimedia.org... http://commonsenseatheism.com... http://www.factofun.com... http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net... http://wp.streetwise.co... http://static.guim.co.uk... http://tinyurl.com... http://www.factofun.com... http://www.adzuna.co.uk... http://data1.whicdn.com... http://wp.streetwise.co... http://wp.streetwise.co... http://tinyurl.com... http://cypruspaws.com... http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com... http://www.girlontheriver.com... http://tinyurl.com... http://www.factofun.com... http://findicons.com... http://www.naturally-healthy-eating.com... http://wp.streetwise.co... http://i.telegraph.co.uk... http://www.factofun.com... http://douglasvermeeren.files.wordpress.com... http://youraccount.ekmpowershop15.com... http://wp.streetwise.co... http://douglasvermeeren.files.wordpress.com... http://www.todayifoundout.com... http://www.lifeprint.com... http://www.games-workshop.com... http://netdna.webdesignerdepot.com... https://cdn1.iconfinder.com... http://www.martinreynolds.co.uk...
Special DDO Challenge: No words allowed

Rules are simple, my opponent will have to debate me on one of these 3 topics- Pizza is better then tacos.- Slurpies should be illegal to fat people.- The US should lift the Cuban Embargo.- The US should invade Costa Rica. You will be pro for whatever topic you pick. One important rule though....... you may not communicate with written words. You must find a way to argue me, without any written letters or numbers in any form. We are a go....
Smoking should be illegal, its killing too many people!

Yes, the stop of advertisement and smoking in public places does not help the smokers directly. BUT, if someone who smokes wishes to stop there are multiple schemes out there to help them. For example the NHS have FREE quit kits available for people who wish to stop smoking (http://smokefree.nhs.uk...) which has been developed by experts smokers and ex-smokers and has actually been found incredibly effective (http://smokefree.nhs.uk... see this link for videos.) Now yes, smoking can cause cancer and death for a person but so can multiple other factors which are also legal. For instance "Of all the deaths in the UK that were linked to excess weight, about 66 per cent were down to obesity, and 33 per cent to being overweight." (http://www.dailymail.co.uk...) Also being obese increases your risk of developing a number of serious and potentially life-threatening diseases, such as: "type 2 diabetes "heart disease "some types of cancer, such as breast cancer and colon cancer "stroke In addition, obesity can damage your quality of life and can often trigger depression(http://www.nhs.uk...) So does this mean that in turn we should also make junk food illegal and only allow people to eat healthy foods? Additionally caffeine and aspatame causes migraines, illness, and can even poison people. So does this mean we should ban and make Coffee, tea, carbonated drinks, and other caffeine based products illegal? Furthermore if we were to follow your wishes and classify tobacco as an illegal drug then we would have the same issues there were during the alcohol prohibition where people actually drank more. Additionally we know with the likes of other illegal drugs such as cannabis the fact that it is illegal stops no one. In fact due to it being disproved and against the law it gives people a sense of rebelling and due to it being easy to get hold of up to 6.9% of 16-59 year olds reported using cannabis show in The Crime Survey for England and Wales 2011/12 (http://www.google.co.uk...) Finally, your last point is an incredibly vast generalisation. As personally I have never know someone to die from a "smoking related illness" so that isn't everyone.
Smoking should be illegal, its killing too many people!

Thanks for joining my debate, I agree that the government has done a lot to stop people smoking around non-smokers; however this does nothing to help people who are already smoking. Smoking has been proven to cause serious damage to a person"s health and although, it does not cause a person"s death it seriously increases a person"s chance of experience heart failure and/or lung cancer. According to netdoctor.co.uk each year around 42,800 deaths in the UK were caused by smoking-related cancers. Of these 30,600 were from cardiovascular disease and a massive 29,100 from Emphysema and other chronic lung diseases. This is a staggering amount of people who died needlessly from a smoking. There are at least 400 toxic compounds in cigarettes and although not all of them cause massive health problems, smoking too many can cause quite serious health effects. The most deadly of these substances are tar, carbon monoxide ad nicotine. What I would like to see is laws and regulations against smoking to encourage people to quit; I feel that the substance should be classified as an illegal drug. I do not think people should go to prison for smoking however: stores should stop selling cigarettes; clinics should do more to support people who need to stop smoking; and people should be more educated about the dangers of smoking. In my opinion you can ask anyone you like and they will know someone who has died from a smoking related illness or will know of someone who has been affected by smoking. And this can happen to everyone. I just feel that the risk is too great for the government to not take serious action. http://www.netdoctor.co.uk...
A Debate On The Electoral College

I must say I was incorrect in stating that Wyoming was more overrepresented in the Electoral College by a margain of 6 to one, I meant 3 to 1. (Wyoming has .2% of the population with .6% of the Electoral Vote). There is still overrepresentation however. And to refute I will explain how 500,000 people can measure up to 23,000,000. Because the minimum amount of Electoral Votes is three (two senators + representatives) Wyoming, regardless of population will have three. Meanwhile, because the arbitrary number of 538 Electoral votes was created, fast growing states gain Electoral Votes, and that means populous states lose Electoral Votes. Also, the official census of the United States is taken every ten years. This is a problem because it does not compensate for a large rise or fall in population. You also said that four states California, Florida, Texas, and New York would control the election process. However as it is they control about one fifth (this is a estimate) of the Electorate. If we switched to popular vote they would control about one fourth of the electorate, so other states would still matter. In your closing you stated that "You also stated 'We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal' well if you really believed in this logic you would support the electoral college so that no ONE state would not be heard" Well I refute that we should not be designated by our state. We should not be given power based on our political affiliations or the town or city or state we live in. We should be given power as a person. An individual. And that is why we must replace the Electoral College. Thank you for the debate. I have enjoyed it.
A Debate On The Electoral College

The electoral college is perfectly fair like I said in my last argument the vote on the presidency is NOT based on the majority vote the president is picked by the states as Individuals it would NOT be right for four states to ultimately decide the future for 46 other states. " Wyoming is extremely overrepresented with 1 Electoral Vote per abut 100000 while Texas has an Electoral vote per about 600000 people. So a citizen in Wyoming has Wyoming has 600% more power than a citizen in Texas. Is this fair?" So according to your argument above me you said Wyoming gets 1 electoral vote for every 100,000 people in the state but this is not true if it was Wyoming would have 5 electoral votes instead of only having 3. According to the U.S. census bureau Wyoming has a population of 500,000. Now tell me how without the electoral college would 500,000 people measure up against 23,000,000 people the logic doesn't make sense. You also stated "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal" well if you really believed in this logic you would support the electoral college so that no ONE state would not be heard. Because remember the four states I mentioned above would rule over all the rest due to their enormous populations.
A Debate On The Electoral College

I am new to debate.org so I may make some mistakes. First of all I refute that the founding fathers in creating the Electoral College, knew exactly what they were doing. They had no idea how the times would change so they added a means for ammends in the constitution. Second I refute that because of the Electoral College no state may rule over another. This is not true because of overepresentation within the states. Wyoming is extremely overepresented with 1 Electoral Vote per abut 100000 while Texas has an Electoral vote per about 600000 people. So a citizen in Wyoming has Wyoming has 600% more power than a citizen in Texas. Is this fair? Third I refute that small states would'nt be neglected in the popular system. This is because some votes in some states don't matter at all. If you are a democrat in a largely Republican state, then the state will ultimately go "red" and your vote will not affect the total. Also, if you support a third party candidate, your state will not help elet them and your vote will not count. So if we truly do believe in the statement " We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal" Then we must eliminate the Electoral College to make our votes equal. And last I say That 4 times in American history, a candidate has won without the popular vote. The peoples voices went unheard and we cannot make that mistake again. Every vote must count and everyvoice must be heard