R: Dress to Impress

We ought to take a certain pride in the unique formality with which we as Federalists carry ourselves both on and off the floor. While the members of some parties in the Union do not afford each other the respect of debating in more than shorts or sweats, the members of others do not afford each other the closeness of debating in anything but their tightest suits and sleekest dresses. In this respect, Federalists strike a balance between the extremes of both right and left: we accept a spectrum of style while maintaining a robust framework of etiquette. Tonight, however, we must grapple with the ethics of aesthetics to examine whether our chosen styles truly reflect the virtues we daily strive to attain. From jeans caucus to cufflinks caucus, all are invited to share their opinions as we celebrate All Hallows’ Eve with debate and friendly colloquy. 

The affirmative firmly believes that looking your best is essential for being your best. Clothing does not serve merely as a means of covering up our vulnerabilities: it acts as an external display of internal emotions, one of the few ways that outsiders can understand the insides of our minds. When you dress to impress, you ensure that all those around you understand the quality of your principles and desires. Living the Good Life necessitates always being held to the highest standard of conduct, requiring all of our interactions to be treated with the utmost care and concern. Therefore, dressing to impress ought not to be something we carry with us only on the debate floor—effort should be put into what we wear from the beach to the bedroom, the dining room to the dance hall. 

The negative desires to temper our belief in the necessity of clothing to shape who we are. Clothing emerged, those in the negative remind us, from the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve ate of the Forbidden Fruit and recognized sin in their nakedness. While the negative does not call for a return to nudity, its proponents do argue that clothing ought to be something that does not promote sin, but negates it. Those who dress to impress often do so as a way of masking deeper insecurities, putting on airs for the purpose of making themselves appear better than those around them. True virtue does not include donning ostentatious apparel. Socrates let his nails grow long, and Jesus gave away all his possessions—neither owned a well-tailored suit. If we are to truly live out our values, it is incumbent upon us to dress explicitly not to impress, lest we fall in the trap of sin. Rather, we must dress to impress upon ourselves the virtues of humility, temperance, and respect. 

Is beauty defined by aesthetics, or are aesthetics defined by beauty? Do our clothes reflect our inner desires, or do they shield them? Should we don our coats and ties, or discard them?