“What is best for man, and for society, abundance or scarcity? ‘What!

’ you exclaim, ‘can that be

a question? Has anyone ever asserted, or is it possible to maintain, that scarcity is at the
foundation of human wellbeing?’”

With this introduction to his work, Economic Sophisms the French economist, Frederic Bastiat,
embarks on a common sense defense of concepts like prosperity, profit, and competition.
Although we tend to take many of these principles for granted, today’s debate will remind us of
their vitality and significance in our lives as I affirm the resolution: that competition is superior
to cooperation as a means of achieving excellence.

DEFINITIONS

Competition is defined by Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary as “The act of seeking, or

endeavoring to gain, what another is endeavoring to gain, at the same time; rivalry”

Cooperation is defined by the same source as “The act of working, or operating together, to one
end; joint operation; concurrent effort or labor;”

Superior is defined by Princeton WordNet Dictionary as “of high or superior quality or

performance.”

RESOLUTIONAL ANALYSIS

Under this, I have 2 subpoints:

A) The resolution does not require the affirmative to reject the reality or benefits of cooperation
completely. Therefore, I will argue that when we compare their overall impact, we find that
competition provides us with comparatively greater good than cooperation, and is therefore,
superior to cooperation as a means of achieving excellence.

B) Excellence, admittedly, is a rather nebulous term. Therefore, the values presented in today’s
debate will provide us with a measuring stick for understanding the concept of “excellence.”

VALUE

In today’s debate, I advocate the value of prosperity, defined by Merriam-Webster’s Online

Dictionary as “the condition of being successful or thriving; especially: economic well-being.”
Prosperity is, itself, one of the most intuitively desirable values in any value hierarchy. We all
want nice houses, nice cars, running water, working electricity, comfortable furniture, etc. But all
too often, we take for granted these amazing benefits of prosperity.

CRITERION

To further prosperity, I propose the criterion of profit incentives which will be further explained
in my second contention, but the idea is that since money is a universal motivator, it can lead
people to do great things they normally wouldn’t do without this incentive.
Contention 1: Prosperity is a force multiplier

In addition to being intuitively valued, prosperity exponentially multiplies itself to make society
better for everyone. Prosperous businessmen create jobs by hiring workers to run their
companies and factories. Prosperous nations have more resources and technology to protect the
environment, and their citizens. Prosperous individuals also use their money for charity
donations, and simply helping those in need. In short, prosperity is a force multiplier which
extends far beyond one or two prosperous individuals, increasing relative wealth for all.

But how do nations become prosperous, or individuals for that matter? This leads me to…

Contention 2: Prosperity happens because people pursue profit

Individuals pursue their own self-interests and almost always desire to increase their well-being.
The most efficient means to do this is by allowing individuals to market their labor and service in
the economy. Some might question the morality of putting a price on labor services like
healthcare and education or produced goods, like bottled water and clothing. Yet, the very reason
these goods and services exist is because individuals and companies deem it profitable to
produce these goods, allowing us to consume them. As Walter Williams, professor of economics
at George Mason said in March 2005:

“Whenever the profit incentive is missing, the probability that people’s wants can be
safely ignored is the greatest. If a poll were taken asking people which services they are
most satisfied with and which they are most dissatisfied with, for-profit organizations
(supermarkets, computer companies and video stores) would dominate the first list while
non-profit organizations (schools, offices of motor vehicle registration) would dominate
the latter.”

The fact is judge that profit is a universal motivation, a motivation that leads to prosperity.

Contention 3: Competition is superior to cooperation

Cooperation, as clarified in the definition at the beginning of this case, emphasizes joint action
towards a common purpose. Although profit can result from such a mindset, it does not
necessarily do so. In fact, when a cooperative mindset is carried to its logical conclusions, profit
becomes a dirty word because it allows individuals to place their personal self-interests ahead of
the rest of the group. Cooperation would have those individuals reject their personal desires for
profit and work with everyone else for the “common good.” In other words, a truly cooperative
society eliminates profit incentives for key services, thereby eliminating the desire to compete
for the production and consumption of those services.

However, as we saw in contention 2, profit is fundamental to prosperity. Only a competitive

mindset which emphasizes multiple individuals or groups striving to gain the same resources,
goods, and services with personal profit incentives will bring about greater prosperity.

For example, consider the United States healthcare system. Overall, as it becomes based on a
more cooperative mindset by encouraging everyone to throw their money into health insurances
pools, the quality of healthcare in the United States is rapidly decreasing. But because insurance
hides the true cost of healthcare, prices are also on the rise. However, John Stossel of ABC news
reports that one sector of healthcare remains outside of insurance coverage…and the results are
very good. Lasik eye surgery is the last remaining competitive sector of healthcare in the United
States, but it is by far the most efficient and successful. Stossel wrote on September 11, 2007:
 “Competition has also made Lasik cheaper: While in nearly every other field of medicine,
prices have gone up faster than consumer prices in general, the price of Lasik has fallen
by as much as 30 percent. The quality of the surgery has also improved. The difference is
that people care about prices when they spend their own money, so providers compete to
offer services that are faster, better and cheaper.”

As we can see, competition, not cooperation gives us the foundations for profit incentives and
greater prosperity. Although cooperation can contribute to this effort from time to time, it is not
superior to competition as a means of achieving prosperity, and therefore I urge and affirmative
ballot in today’s debate.

Bibliography

Bastiat, Frederic. Economic Sophisms. Trans. Patrick J Sterling. 5th Edition. Edinburgh: Oliver
and Boyd, 1873.O

Sowell, Thomas. "'Obscene' Profits." 23 December 2003. Capitalism Magazine. 8 July 2009
<http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=3426>.

Stossel, John. "American Health Care in Critical Condition." 11 September 2007. ABC News. 8
July 2009 <http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/Story?id=3580676&page=1>.

Williams, Walter. "The Entrepreneur As American Hero." March 2005. Heartland Institute. 8
July 2009 <http://www.heartland.org/custom/semod_policybot/pdf/ 16978.pdf>.