I just had one of my speakout debaters post his case on a different forum. I'm clipping and pasting it here with my comments below, I'm hoping this may help some of you get started.
Socrates once said "Let him that would move the world first move himself."This quote illustrates how success is achieved: through action.
Good afternoon my name is ____________and I will be the Affirmative speaker for this debate round. My value for this round will be progress and for the sake of upholding my value I stand resolved that competition IS superior to cooperation as a means of achieving excellence. In this case I will demonstrate how my value of progress dictates that we affirm the resolution.
Definitions: In order to provide clarity and mutual understanding in this debate round I would like to define some of the key terms that i will be using through out the debate round. Competition is defined as the activity of competing against others.(Oxford compact online dictionary).Cooperation is defined as: to act or work with another or others.(Websters Online dictionary). Excellence is defined as the fact or state of excelling. Excelling is defined as to be superior to : surpass in accomplishment or achievement.(Merriam Webster online)
My value for this round,progress, is defined as the act of moving forward as to an objective or goal.
Progress is the best reason to affirm this resolution because Progress is the most necessary value and competition is the best way to achieve progress.
Contention 1 Progress is the most necessary value.
Progress is the most necessary value because through it all other values move forward.Take the value of morality for example. One of morality's end goals is to be the most moral but one cannot be the most moral unless they progress towards that goal.And you can only progress towards that goal if progress is valued.We cannot shoot an arrow without a bow,we cannot go on vacation without a car and we cannot buy anything without money.Progress is needed for everything.Without it nothing will be achieved. The best way to achieve progress is through competition.
Contention 2 Competition achieves progress by spurring people on to advance.
Competition achieves progress by forming a standard of excellence that represents the best things in an area. The other competitors have to match and go beyond that standard if they wish to succeed. An example of this can be seen in the nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. When the US built a nuke the Soviets had to counter with 3 so as not to be left behind. Then The US would construct a couple 100 more nukes which would then be matched by thousands more Soviet Nukes.This cycle repeated itself again and again until it reached the massive numbers of Nuclear weapons at the height of the cold war.That example showed how the Competition leads to progress. In that case competition spurred the US and the Soviets to progress towards their goal of nuclear supremacy because of the standard they set for each other which had to be adhered to or complete destruction may have followed. that was a particularly extreme example but it illustrates how competition works. This applies to any arena whether it be sports,war or economics;competition sets the bar for success which means that people are always excelling. This leads me to my third contention.
Contention 3 A lack of Competition leads to stagnancy
An excellent way to show how competition achieves excellence is to show what happens when there is no competition. An example of this is a monopoly. A monopoly is when one business or individual gains complete control of a product or service and completely excludes all other competitors. A monopoly gives a business the ability to remain at a low level with impunity because they set the standard of competition for themselves.After all who's going to stop them from doing what they want,when they want to do it.They need to act only when another competitor appears and forces them to change their ways and match the new standard.OPEC is an example of this.OPEC can virtually control the oil market because they hold the biggest share of oil production in the world. Should another big competitor of oil arise OPEC would have to adopt new,progressive measures to maintain excellence in the oil market. As it is though OPEC holds a powerful monopoly and there is no competition and thus;there is no motivation to excel.
Now I would like to go over my 3 main points. my first point is that progress is the most necessary values because all values have to go through it to be achieved. My second point is that Competition achieves progress by spurring people on to advance,because it creates a standard of excellence that must be followed. And my third contention is that A lack of Competition leads to stagnancy because there is no motivation or impetus to progress or excel. thank you and I now stand ready for cross examination and further points of clarification.
Mrs. Gray's comments about his case:________, I remember your value of Progress last year. It definately worked for you hey!
Great start on your case. Just a few suggestions right now!
With regard to contention 2
Quote:
- Quote :
- Competition achieves progress by spurring people on to advance.
Consider simplifying this tag line, ie: Competition motivates people to progress toward a goal.
I love your historical application of OPEC...some of it is speculation though, this argument could be significantly strengthened if you could find an authoritative source or a quotation specifically related to competition in the oil industry or energy market. This might take a little work, but it would be well worth your time.
Your third contention:
Quote:
- Quote :
- A lack of Competition leads to stagnancy
This might be clearer and more directly tied to your value if you say. A lack of competition prevents progress.
I also think you'll want to discuss the money factors that directly impact your judge. (cost of gas etc) the negative part of an OPEC monopoly. This will get the attention of your judge. Not many people have done an analysis of OPEC's quality, but we sure do understand how OPEC's policies effect the price of gas. Lack of competition effects the price of gas.... find a source to support this and you've got an even stronger argument.
Thanks _______... Keep up the good work... and thanks for sharing!
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