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Neg Fiat

Okay, let's start yet another theory thread.  This issue came up on CX-L 
earlier this season, but when reading the anticounters thread, I thought it 
might do better here.

Question:  Why does negative get fiat?

Before we start, please assume aff plan focus.  Justification for neg fiat 
under plan-plan is not very difficult or interesting!

My personal answer is that negative doesn't get fiat.  Counterplans are 
*only* tests of opportunity cost, and the negative does not get to pass a 
counterplan at all.  The entirety of negative fiat creates a bunch of mess 
that is not justified by any ability to guide policy analysis.

Implications:

1. Clarifies the context of the resolution.  It is ridiculous to expect aff 
to defend the plan in any world (ie, alondside any counterplan).  Where we 
draw the line is often very arbitrary (eg, foreign fiat?).  By asking aff 
to defend their plan only in the status quo, the line is drawn.

2. Negative must show that cp could happen in real world.  This does 
exclude utopian counterplans, and I'm not sure if that's good or bad.  In 
any case, I believe it is outweighed by lack of negative fiat clarifying 
the context of the resolution.

Common justifications for neg fiat:

1.  "Imagine a world where aff is bad..."  Okay, I'm imagining.  Now why 
does that give me the right to create such a world in a debate round.  The 
context in which we interpret the resolution is not specified, and it is as 
likely to be the status quo as the set of all possible worlds.

2.  Should implies "should not."  I've never understood this, so perhaps 
someone could explain it.  It seems to me like proving that we "should not" 
is completely possible without negative fiat.

So, anyone want to defend negative fiat?  I'd like to see someone justify 
the ability of the negative to propose a competitive policy and offer it as 
a possible decision in the round.  And where would you restrain fiat?  Does 
competition check abuse?  Or should we apply some criteria to decide if the 
cp is legit?

Chris Smith
Woodland Park HS Debate

"Love is apparently killed by time, only because it transcends time; and 
its spiritual and infinite essence cannot be contained with the limitations 
of a material and finite world."
	- Caroline Spurgeon, on Shakespeare's philosophy of love
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