The United States has a moral obligation to mitigate international conflicts

On September 11, 2001, the United States experienced one of the biggest terrorist attacks of all times. This massive breach of national security, killing around 3000 people, reminded the government and the people how important national security was. This attack led to small yet sharp economic turndown, resulting in the stock markets crashing, and 40 billion dollars in insurance losses. Ever since, we now know how important national security is, and that is why my value today will be national security. National Security is defined as "A collective term for the defense and foreign relations of a country, and protection of the interests of a country " Going on with some other definitions. Moral is defined as "concerning or relating to what is right and wrong in human behavior." Obligation is defined as "something that you must do because it is morally right" Mitigate is defined as "to cause to become less harsh or hostile" International conflict we will define as not just as a series of individual conflict, but as conflict as a whole. The complete term encompassing all conflict. So when we talk about mitigating conflict, we are talking about limiting international conflict as a whole. And finally, I will define the United States as the US government since the population can not directly vote on foreign affairs. The government has the most direct relation with foreign policy, so we should define the US as the government of the United States. My criterion today will be that of social contract. Social contract is defined as "an agreement, entered into by individuals, that results in the formation of the state or of organized society, the prime motive being the desire for protection, which entails the surrender of some or all personal liberties" In other words, it is when the people give up some of their freedom so the government can keep them safe and secure. Ct. 1: Social Contract This is extremely important in today"s round. The base idea behind social contract theory is that the people give up some of their freedom, for instance their privacy at airports, so the government can keep them and their nation secure. Now as a point of clarification, social contract theory is only the case in a democratic or republican form of government, where the people are represented in the government, and the government has agreed to uphold the national security of the people. That being said, the government has a moral obligation by social contract theory to uphold national security. But how can the government uphold the national security in an effective and reasonable manner? This leads me into contention two. Ct.2: International Stability leads to national security. One of the biggest factors in determining national security is the stability of the world around the nation. If the world around them is stable, meaning conflict is low or at a minimum, then the nation will be secure. For this I have 3 applications Application 1: Pax Romana. The Pax Romana was a period in Ancient Rome under the rule of Augustus Caesar, where Rome was extremely stable and extremely secure. The main reason behind this security was because there was practically world peace. There were no large conflicts present, and as a result, the Roman Empire was very secure. Application 2: The roaring 20s. As you probably know, this time of extreme prosperity, stability, and security, began shortly after WW1. After this large war, many countries around the world were extremely stable, making a large world power like the US, extremely secure. Application 3: The 90"s boom. This stage of prosperity and security also was a result of the extreme international stability that was present. Most world powers around the world were at a state of stability, and as a result, the US was very secure. This concept is extremely basic. If there are no or few countries currently attacking you, then you are secure and safe. And whenever there is war, there is bound to be international instability, but as I have explained in the last 3 applications, when there is not an abundant amount of war, then the world is stable, and as a result, countries like the US are secure, keeping people like you and me secure. Ct. 3: Mitigation leads to international stability It is very important that you keep in mind that mitigate does not mean "to get involved" or to "send military aid to" but instead means "to make less severe." This means that if we fail to make something less severe, we have not mitigated it. If we transfer this to the resolution, it means that we must make international conflict as a whole less severe, and if we fail to make it less severe, we have not mitigated it. But failure is not unavoidable. So what if we do mitigate, or "make less severe" international conflict? What does this do? As I briefly explained in my last contention, the less international conflict you have, the more stable the world is, which ultimately means the more safe people like you and me are. So what have we seen today? We first saw how important national security is. We saw how important your safety, and my safety is. We then looked at the social contract theory, and that because of it, that the government is morally obligated to uphold our and our nation"s security. We then saw how international stability leads to national security, and how mitigation of international conflict results in increasing international stability. So overall, we saw that mitigating international conflict results in national security, which is what we are shooting for. So please, vote with me, vote for your security and safety, vote that yes the United States has a moral obligation to mitigate international conflict, and vote affirmative, thank you,