Resolved: The American Dream still exists.

I will use this round to build my case, and will respond to my opponent's contentions in Round 2. I would like to begin by proposing a more comprehensive definition of the "American Dream". The term was first used by James Truslow Adams in 1931 novel, "The Epic of America", thus making his definition of the term the most appropriate. Adams stated, "the American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position. " [1] Under this definition, my opponent is under the burden of proof to show that regardless of one's social class, gender, or sexual orientation, they have equal access to achieving the goals outlined in the original American Dream. Contention 1: Real freedom has been replaced with symbols of personal freedom. Steve McCallion accurately describes America today by saying that "like any other great brand that gets distracted by its success, America has lost its way and compromised its future for near-term gains" and that America "has mortgaged its future to maintain the symbols of personal freedom (the house, the car, the big screen TV) at the expense of real freedom" [2] This statement could not be truer today. The US currently owes $1 trillion in debt to China, our public education system is on the brink of collapse, and we rank #1 worldwide in our obesity rate. Americans have replaced the dream for "social order" and that "life should be better and richer and fuller for every man" [1] with the endless pursuit of self-promotion without regards to others. This statement will be further examined in Contention 2. Contention 2: The Ends Justify The Means Under the perverted version of the "American Dream", the ends clearly justify the means. In this contention we'll explore the corrupt means behind American motivation to get to the top. Subpoint A: Corruption Where is the American Dream when some of the largest figures in the media are linked to hundred-million dollar scandals? Mark Zuckerberg allegedly stole the idea for the world's largest social networking site from Harvard classmates. And whilst "The Social Network" is overwhelmingly exaggerated in its storytelling, certain facts still stand: Zuckerberg's best friend sued him for a whopping $600 million dollars after his company share was reduced to a fraction of a percent. When was the last time your best friend did that to you? Many billionaires have reached such status in similar ways. Don't forget Bernie Madoff, who stole billions from Americans by orchestratting the largest Ponzi scheme in American history. He was found guilty of 11 federal crimes after over 20 years of fraudulent activity and is now sentenced to 150 years in prison. [3] Zuckerberg's and Madoff's faces paint an ugly, but accurate, picture representing of what Americans are now willing to do to get to the top. Subpoint B: Lobbying In 2000, Senator Phil Gramm was lobbied by Enron to slip a provision into the Commodity Futures Modernization Act that would allow for the creation of the Enron Loophole. This allowed the creation of a deregulated oil futures market and allow Enron create fake electricity shortages in California and cheat Californians out of an estimated $40 billion dollars. [4] Buying votes in Congress is no new matter. Lobbying was used yet again when passing deregulating the economy (which lead to the recession), passing Medicare Part D (which hiked the cost of healthcare) and when eliminating the Estate Tax, by referring to it as a "Death Tax". [5] [6] [7] When massive corporations can alter the course of the economy in order to exploit it for their own benefit, the American Dream become the "government dream" where corporations can buy votes and elections. Senator Dick Durbin explains that the financial lobby is "the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place. " [5] The American Dream has clearly fallen victim to corruption and no longer exists. Kevin Drum says it best: "Wall Street lobbyists don't just have influence in Washington. They own it lock, stock, and barrel. " [5] Subpoint C: The Disappearing Middle Class As wealth becomes more polarized, the middle class has gradually started to disappear. There is "a growing gap between rich and poor, in which the average CEO earns 400 times that of his average employee, creating a class of economic royalty that challenges our founding ideals. " [2] Subpoint D: The Environment American's have embraced a high-emissions lifestyle which gives us the second largest carbon footprint by ratio to GDP, with 5,752,289 tons of CO2 put into the atmosphere annually; more than all of the EU put together (3,908,662 tons). [7] Such a wasteful lifestyle contradicts the foundations of the American Dream, and once again stating that Americans believe the ends (wealth) justify the means (environmental degradation). Contention 3: Gays Even as the days of Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) slowly come to an end, the Justice Department continues to fight against it. Just today, the Justice Department asked a federal judge to set aside her ruling on DADT because it would "irreparably harm our military and the national security of the United States. " Since when does the freedom of a group of people to fight to protect one's country irreparably HARM our military? How can it threaten the NATIONAL SECURITY of the United States? If there was a ruling that blacks could not serve in the military unless they covered all of their skin, the US would be shocked. When no such reaction occurs from such statements from a branch of the US government itself, and when the Justice Department isolates a group of people in such a manner as it did, the American Dream does not exist. [8] Whilst Obama pledges to remove this policy, he admits that "this is not a situation where I can, by the stroke of a pen, end this policy " because of the massive distaste America feels towards gays. For gays in the United States today, when the basic right to serve for one's country without having to conceal one's identity does not exist, the American Dream does not exist. Contention 4: The Working Poor In Barbara Ehrenreich's novel "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America", we see the abuses inflicted by businesses (both big and small) onto their employees. In her novel, Ehrenreich travels from city to city working minimum wage jobs in a modern-day attempt to discover whether or not it is possible to survive in America on the minimum wage. Even with her $1,500 head start, she finds it impossible to pay for adequate housing, food, and transportation without juggling two minimum wage jobs, living in bad housing conditions (in Florida, a trailer park became a luxury for her, whereas in Minneapolis, a hotel was the best it would get). This situation exists because of the degradation of business-owners on their workers. In her experiences at Wal-Mart, Ehrenreich finds that managers arbitrarily change shift schedules, disrespect employees, shorten lunch breaks, and prevent any socializing between employees to degrade them into being quiet, unmotivated, and submissive. [9] It's clear that for the working poor, the American Dream is out of reach. Under today's definition, the American Dream must be within reach for all social classes in order to exist, and thus it's clear that it does not exist. Because I have run out of characters, my resources can be found under the "comments" section. For the aforementioned reasons, I strongly negate.