Entitlement whores

It's been a depressing sort of Sunday, thanks largely to a news story headlined on the Drudge Report this morning.

An 82-year-old woman with a rap sheet dating back to 1955 has been arrested on suspicion of burglarizing at least eight doctors’ offices throughout Torrance.

. . .

[Doris] Thompson has a 21-page rap sheet that includes arrests from 1955 for disturbing the peace, burglary, forgery and grand theft from Los Angeles to the South Bay to Beverly Hills, according to the Daily Breeze. She was arrested in connection with a homicide in 1957, but was deemed insane and committed to a hospital.

The octogenarian previously pleaded guilty two years ago for similar burglaries, and reportedly asked if she would be serving the entire three years of her sentence. Thompson was released on parole in November.

According to the newspaper, she reportedly told detectives at her sentencing that she “wouldn’t do all this nonsense if the government gave us more money.”

There's more at the link.  Bold print is my emphasis.

I could hardly believe my eyes, reading that.  Was this career criminal - with one of the lengthiest criminal careers I've ever heard of! - really blaming her crimes on the fact that the government didn't give her enough money?  Sure enough, she was.  The most depressing thing about it is that she probably believes it, and means every word she said!

There are far too many people out there who believe that they're actually entitled to handouts, support and special treatment.  They don't believe they have to do anything to earn or deserve them.  A quick Internet search this morning brought up examples from many countries.  Consider these news stories:

• From New Mexico, USA:  "Students' Sense of Entitlement Drives Away a Faculty Member".
• From the New York Times:  "The Entitled Generation".
• From CBS Moneywatch:  "Entitlement culture starts at the top".  Main point:  "... the entitlement mentality at the top is probably fueling a mainstream entitlement culture ... When business executives and government leaders think they're entitled to huge paydays or an "A" grade when they've clearly failed their stakeholders and constituents in every measurable way, what kind of behavior do we expect from the masses?"
• From (formerly) Great Britain:  "This damaging entitlement and dependency culture is the kiss of death to enterprise".
• From Australia:  "Reward welfare a recipe for entitlement culture".
• Back home in the USA:  "You Owe Me: Examining a Generation of Entitlement" (this is very worthwhile reading, IMHO).
• One of the most gratuitous examples of entitlement whoredom:  "The Entitlement Generation - 'Somebody Needs to Pay for All My Children'."
• John Stossel offers a penetrating perspective:  "Congress Still Ignores Entitlement Monster".  Money quote (literally):  "To finance 'entitlement' programs, the government threatens force against the taxpayers who provide the money. Why are people who favor compulsion called humanitarians, while those who favor freedom are stigmatized as greedy?"

This ties in directly with the ballooning US deficit, which we noted last night has just exceeded $16 trillion.  It's grown more in the past three and a half years than it did during the first two hundred and eleven years of the Republic!  The reason for the explosive growth is our entitlement programs, pure and simple.  They alone consume the entire income from taxation of the US government, every year, leaving nothing over for defense or other important expenditures.  In the 2011 financial year, no less than 43% of federal government expenditure was committed to just three entitlement programs:  Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

Add to this other entitlement programs such as food stamps, unemployment assistance, etc., and it becomes clear that over half the federal budget is currently spent on entitlement programs - before so much as a cent is committed to defense, education or other needs.  Indeed, the amount currently promised by our politicians to our citizens through entitlement programs exceeds $222 trillion.  This is, obviously, complete and utter nonsense.  That money will never be paid out.  It can't be, because there isn't that much money in existence!  (The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the entire world was estimated to be no more than $62 trillion in 2010.)  Those entitlement programs are nothing more than a bare-faced lie - yet millions of our citizens depend on those false promises for their future existence.

I don't have an answer to this problem.  If we slashed entitlement spending tomorrow, those who currently rely on it to survive would face an insurmountable problem.  Yet, we can't afford to allow it to keep growing as it has done.  In the case of Medicare and Medicaid, it quite literally boils down to the fact that we're going to have to tell people, "I'm sorry, but you're going to die because we can't afford to treat you."  It's as black and white as that - promises to the contrary notwithstanding.

The solution has to start with all of us, and particularly with the way we raise our children.  Too many of them have grown up with an entitlement mentality.  As Margaret Wente pointed out last year:

Oldsters have been lamenting the laziness of youngsters since Plato was a pup. But never has the disconnect between young adults and the world that awaits them been so vast. Today’s economy is more challenging than it’s been in a generation – and things are likely to get worse before they get better. And the global challenges – from climate change to financial meltdowns – are enormous. But most kids just aren’t that interested.

The entitlement mindset didn’t come from nowhere. It came from us. It came from a generation of adults who believed that kids should never be allowed to fail, or told the truth about their abilities, or learn that getting what you want is sometimes hard.

There's more at the link.

Unfortunately, too many who grew up under such cultural influences now expect to have their every need met by the State.  In allowing such a culture of entitlement to develop, we all bear some share of responsibility - some more than others, of course.  The extent to which we allow it to continue will illustrate whether or not we've become an entire nation of 'entitlement whores'.  This election will be a very telling milestone.  Will we elect a President, Congress and Senate who want us to rely on the 'nanny state' and entitlement programs even more?  Or will we elect those who will change our nation's course, and steer us towards a more practical, realistic, self-reliant and sustainable society?

Something to think about, this Labor Day . . .

Peter