While the United States has long portrayed itself as the “Land of Opportunity”, the fact is that opportunities are not easily come by, and those that do exist are almost exclusively reserved for the upper classes. Those with money can run for office, own land and companies, and can protect themselves from the external world by purchasing their way into private communities and sheltered lives; those without, cannot. It is the purpose of this paper to demonstrate the manner and extent of the marginalization of the average American within the social stratification structure of the United States on the basis of money alone.