In the United States, wealth inequality is detrimental to democratic ideals.

C1- Wealth inequality is detrimental to Equality. There are many areas in which the wealthy have more opportunities, one example being education. Most people will agree that private school offers a better education than public school. However, not everyone can afford to spend $9,500 per year (the national average of private school education is $9,518 according to privateschoolreviews.com) on that advanced education, and that"s only for one child. There"s no way a single mom with two children working as a waitress just to put food on the table could afford $20,000 a year on school. Then comes college. While someone lucky enough to born into a wealthy home may have no trouble paying for tuition at Harvard, an average person would have to work unbelievably hard to get scholarships to be able to get in and then the debt that would go along with it would be crippling. C2- Wealth Inequality is detrimental to Justice. If you"ve watched the news in the past few weeks you"ve probably heard about a boy named Ethan Couch claiming to suffer from "Affluenza" which basically means he can"t be held responsible for his actions because he was "too rich to know right from wrong" according to Couch"s lawyers. Although this may be an extreme case, the upper class does seem to live by this mentality. There are two criminal justice systems in the United States. One is for people with wealth, fame or influence who can afford to hire top-notch attorneys and public relations firms. The other justice system is for everybody else. As one example of this dichotomy, for over a decade suburban jails in Southern California have been renting upscale cells to affluent people convicted of crimes in Los Angeles County. These pay-to-stay correction facilities, also called self-pay jails, cost wealthy prisoners between $45 and $175 a day and include such amenities as iPods, cell phones, computers, private cells and work release programs. Some even let prisoners (who are referred to as "clients") bring in their own food. Poor defendants often have to sit in jail " sometimes for years while their cases wind through the court system " while those with sufficient funds can afford to make bond. For the very rich, bail can range into the millions of dollars, which they can easily pay. But honestly, what can we expect from a wealth-driven justice system when, according to financial disclosure statements released in June 2010, at least five Supreme Court Justices are millionaires? Money and celebrity status talk, and our criminal justice system listens. C3- Wealth Inequality is detrimental to Liberty- There is also corruption in the highest seats of office. A politician"s primary goal is to be re-elected, and corporations offer the donations that fund political campaigns. Representative democracy is supposed to be blind. Economic strength shouldn"t confer extra political privileges and powers. Unfortunately, it does. Oxford University professor Nancy Bermeo concludes that it often results in the direct manipulation of political officers. The latest example is the Solyndra affair (August of 2011). Federal loans were recalculated to ensure that the financial burden of the company"s failure fell on the laps of citizens instead of connected political donors. Solyndra is remarkable for being unremarkable. It doesn"t shock anyone to hear that corporate interests get extra privileges, but the frequency of this doesn"t make it excusable. To sum up, wealth inequality enhances the political representation of the very wealthy, allowing them to basically choose the laws and restrictions that the lower classes have no choice but to oblige to due to their lack of representation, a direct hit to the democratic ideal of Liberty. As you can see, Wealth Inequality is detrimental to three different democratic Ideals. Even if my opponent can prove that Wealth Inequality is a good thing, I have proven that it is detrimental and therefore have affirmed the resolution. And that is why I must affirm the resolution In the United States, wealth inequality is detrimental to democratic ideals.