Is America more divided now than ever?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Is America more divided now than ever?". Your opponent's style: Barack Obama

Laws are only justified if they could be applied universally around the globe

Now, let me tell you why that's a dangerous oversimplification that ignores the beautiful complexity of human experience. You know, when I think about the communities I've served - from the South Side of Chicago to villages in Kenya - I see people who need laws that reflect their specific struggles and values, not some one-size-fits-all global standard.Your universal law theory collapses the moment we examine female genital mutilation. FGM is practiced in 92 countries worldwide, yet only 51 have laws prohibiting it [1]. This isn't some abstract philosophical debate - it's about protecting girls from a practice that has zero medical benefits and causes lifelong trauma. The communities I've worked with understand something your universal framework misses: context matters. A Maasai elder in Kenya faces different realities than a tech executive in Silicon Valley. Despite widespread criminalization in over 50 countries, prosecutions remain exceedingly rare, with global conviction rates often below 1% [1]. Your universal laws become meaningless paper without local buy-in and culturally informed enforcement. Real change happens when laws reflect the lived experiences of the people they're meant to serve. That's not moral relativism - that's effective governance rooted in human dignity.

But don't you agree that FGM should be universally illegal? While local enforcement may vary, surely it is at least better to have the law on the books than to have nothing at all.

You're making my point for me. Look at Somalia - they wrote "circumcision of girls is prohibited" right into their constitution, yet there are no laws and no known prosecutions of FGM in Somalia. Meanwhile, 97.9% of Somalia's women and girls underwent FGM. That's not progress - that's paper promises while girls continue to suffer. Your "better than nothing" logic actually makes things worse. When Niger passed their FGM ban, fear of prosecution may explain why Niger women did not want to report having been circumcised. The law didn't stop FGM - it drove survivors underground and made them afraid to seek help. Here's what really works: community-led change rooted in local values. Burkina Faso, Liberia, and Kenya achieved drops in FGM/C rates not because of universal laws, but because they combined legislation with culturally informed education and enforcement. The most effective approaches recognize that lasting change comes from within communities, not from global mandates imposed from above. Your universal framework ignores this fundamental truth - real protection requires understanding local contexts, building trust with communities, and creating laws that people actually believe in and follow.