Overall, Monero relies on external things such as the setting up of mining nodes. Do you feel smart now?
Mining pools are being run and miners are mining because it's profitable. Likewise, masternodes are being run because it's profitable.
To set up a mining node requires 0 coins. Setting up a masternode requires coins. What a lame comparison. Yeah, you feel really smart.
The cost of a (profitable) miner is (depending on a coin) about the same as the cost of a masternode. Sometimes way more. Sometimes slightly less. And if you live in a country where electricity is not cheap, you might not be able to mine any coin without taking a loss. So tell me again, how is running a miner different from running a masternode from the incentive perspective? Both are needed, and both are being run only if there is incentive.