Tournament: Binghamton | Round: 1 | Opponent: Everyone | Judge: All
The structural urban bias of the United States Federal Government creates a situation where all federal government policies are made from an entirely urban perspective.  This glosses over the needs of rural population leaving them invisible and disenfranchised. It also makes it impossible for rural communities to influence policy, their voices are not even included in the discussion.
Bassett 2003(Debra Lyn, Associate Loula Fuller and Dan Myers Professor Florida State University College of Law, January, 88 Iowa L. Rev. 273)

The rural population has been disproportionately affected by American wars fought abroad, a trend that holds for the wars fought in Iraq and Afghanistan The death rate for rural soldiers is 48 higher than casualty rates for soldiers from cities or suburbs.
Anderson 07 (“Soldiers from Rural America Account for Disproportionate Share of U.S. Casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan” http://voices.yahoo.com/soldiers-rural-america-account-disproportionate-656776.html

The sacrifice of the rural population to the war machine is a perpetual cycle, spurred on by neoliberal policies. Rural and minority populations are targeted for recruitment.  Parks 06  (US military recruiters target rural and depressed areas, http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2006/01/mili-j31.html)

This disproportionate effect is extremely problematic.  In our present political climate, rural areas are used as grounds to recruit bodies to die in our wars. This only perpetuates ruralism, and increasingly rural residents are stigmatized as backwards and rendered politically invisible to justify such policies. Bassett 2003(Debra Lyn, Associate Loula Fuller and Dan Myers Professor Florida State University College of Law, January, 88 Iowa L. Rev. 273)

Communities don’t go to war, nations do. Abandoning intrusive wars makes way for localized diplomacy that is more sensitive and responsive to the culture, religion, and needs of rural communities. Failure to abandon intrusive means of conflict resolution will further the exploitation and marginalization of the rural population and eliminate all protection and hope for such populations.  Coghlan 2009

This marginalization sacrifices local, rural populations caught in the middle of US lead foreign hostilities. Sacrificing one group for the sake of the economy perpetuates the genocidal logic that makes populations discardable.
Santos, ’03 (Boaventura de Sousa, Professor of Sociology at the School of Economics, University of Coimbra, Bad Subjects, Issue #63, April, bad.eserver.org/issues/2003/63/santos.html,. MX)

The power of the existing neoliberal structures lies in the realm of beliefs.  Pedagogical practices that challenge this system are an indispensible in challenging neoliberalism.
Giroux 2006Henry Global Television Network Chair in English Cultural Studies at McMaster University Cultural Studies in Dark Times.  www.henrygiroux/online_articles.DarkTimes.htm 

Using the space of academic debate solves.  Academia is uniquely suited to be a space wherein we can challenge domination.
Giroux 2006Henry Global Television Network Chair in English Cultural Studies at McMaster University Cultural Studies in Dark Times.  www.henrygiroux/online_articles.DarkTimes.htm 

We are the best approach to critical pedagogy because fostering an understanding of the ways in which public institutions interact with students’ private lives opening up space for a radical transformation from the existing neoliberal order to a more substantive and vibrant democracy.
Giroux 2006Henry Global Television Network Chair in English Cultural Studies at McMaster University Cultural Studies in Dark Times.  www.henrygiroux/online_articles.DarkTimes.htm