Tuition Free High Education in US

I will begin my speech in this round by addressing my opponent's rebuttals to my claims. First, he claims that his data shows that "for every dollar invested into the Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944 ... the government and the economy received $6.90 in return." The source for these numbers is a publication entitled, "A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Government Investment in Post-Secondary Education Under the World War II GI Bill," Subcommittee on Education and Health of the Joint Economic Committee, December 14, 1988 and Labor Institute and Public Health Institute, Corporate Power and the American Dream: Toward an Economic Agenda for Working People. New York: The Apex Press, 1997. In other words, the agency providing the numbers is the very agency that needed to prove that the GI bill 'worked,' in other words, the US Government. This is a conflict of interests, and I challenge my opponent to find a source that does not cite government figures to reinforce his $6.90 figure. Furthermore, even if a return was accrued, there is no way to know if this money could have been spent more wisely, resulting in (hypothetically) a $6.91 return. Without any comparison, there is no way to prove or disprove that this money was well spent, as measured by it's return on investment. Additionally, to say that the Government received a return on its investment has nothing to do with the economy receiving any benefit. The US Government and the US economy are distinct entities, much (I'm sure) to the chagrin of the Labor Party and Debs - Jones - Douglass Institute, who created and sponsor the site that my opponent has repeatedly cited. To address my opponent's response to my question, "all merits aside, who is going to foot the bill?" My opponent had the following to say: "Hmm, where can we get money? we have money – taxpayers have already paid the money! Question: where have they gone? Answer: War in Iraq->Spent & Approved War-Spending - About $800 billion of US taxpayers' funds spent or approved for spending through mid-2009. Question: What could we do with the money? Answer: Have 101,437,848 Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR Free High Education." Okay, that's all well and fine, but this is the same $800 billion that is sending us into an outrageous deficit that cannot be sustained for any reasonable amount of time. This money ought not be spent at all; neither on a ridiculous war, nor a frivolous federal aid campaign. The only way to fund such a campaign, even if we completely eliminate all funding for our military overnight, would be deficit spending or increased taxes. Period. Next, my opponent offers up the quote, "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," as refutation of my claims of unconstitutionality. This is wrong on two levels. The first, and most obvious, is that (as he correctly states) is from the Declaration of Independence, which is most emphatically NOT the Constitution, and so is irrelevant anyway. Furthermore, trying to construe fully subsidized higher education from, "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness" is tenuous at best, and could be quite dubious. If we can get a "right" to subsidized education from such a statement, could we not also get a "right" to subsidized adult novelty shops? It would certainly be happiness for many people. The facts remain - such a program is not only unconstitutional, it is also financially devastating! I want to help people; that is why I donate to private charities. I also contribute to funds that provide award-based scholarships to outstanding debaters. I encourage you to do the same.