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Propositions of Policy

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The third type of proposition is concerned with what should happen. In propositions of policy, the speaker makes claims about what goal, policy, or course of action should be pursued. The examples that follow are propositions of policy:

“Gay people should have the same rights as all other Americans.”
“Colleges and universities should not consider race when making admission decisions.”
“Any vehicle that gets poor gas mileage (say, less than 25 miles per gallon) should be banned in the United States.”

In advocating for any of these statements, your task as the speaker would be to persuade the audience that a current policy is not working or that a new policy is needed. Propositions of policy are common during election campaigns as candidates—especially challengers—offer their ideas and plans for what the government should do and how they would do it.

No matter what your topic, and no matter which type of proposition you are advocating, you’ll need to know as much as possible about your listeners in order to persuade them effectively. This is the topic of the next section.

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