Topicality, the negative block, and writing blocks that survive the 1AR

Topicality on this resolution

Every word in "The United States federal government should establish national health insurance in the United States" can be contested.

• Federal government: excludes state-only plans and private mandates.
• Establish: create something new; expanding an existing program (Medicare buy-in, Medicaid expansion) may not be establishing.
• National: covering the whole country and, arguably, the whole population; a plan for one group may fail.
• Health insurance: a payer that assumes risk; a plan that directly provides care (a national health service) may not be insurance, and a plan with no premiums invites the same argument.

Run topicality when the affirmative plan really does sit at an edge, and always with a definition from a statute, a dictionary, or expert usage. Answer it with a counter-interpretation and a definition of your own, a we-meet, and the argument that your plan is at the core of the topic literature.

The negative block

The 2NC and 1NR together give the negative thirteen minutes against the 1AR's five. Divide by position, never by half.

• 2NC: the positions with the most evidence to extend, typically the counterplan and the main disadvantage. Read new cards, answer every 2AC response, and explain the net benefit.
• 1NR: case answers and topicality, or a second disadvantage. Short, clear, and written in advance because the 1NR has no prep between the 2NC cross-examination and the speech.
• Rule: nothing appears in both speeches. Duplicated arguments waste the block's advantage.

Writing blocks

A block is a pre-written set of answers to an argument you expect. The method:

1. List the twelve arguments you will hear most. On this topic: spending, politics, federalism, provider supply, the public option counterplan, the state counterplan, topicality on "insurance," the capitalism kritik, and case defense on coverage, mortality, medical debt, and transition.
2. For each, write four to six numbered responses in full sentences, each with the level it attacks (uniqueness, link, impact, competition, solvency) and a card if one exists.
3. Read each block aloud and time it. A 2AC block should take forty-five to seventy-five seconds; a 1AR block, twenty to thirty.
4. Mark the two responses to extend in the 1AR. The 1AR does not read the whole block; it reads the two best.
5. Update the blocks after every tournament from your ballots.

The 1AR time budget

Five minutes against thirteen. Write the budget on the flow before the speech: thirty seconds on the counterplan (permutation and solvency deficit), sixty on the disadvantage (two responses plus impact comparison), thirty on topicality if it is still alive, and the rest on the case, extending the advantages the 2NR is most likely to attack. Group arguments wherever one response answers several. Signpost every transition. A 1AR that covers everything thinly loses; a 1AR that covers the right things well wins the 2AR the round.

See the sample 1NC for block planning in practice and the disadvantages and counterplans guide for the positions these blocks answer.