Posted by
Christopher Parisho on Tuesday, February 27, 2007 1:20:49 PM
Far too often these days the citizens of this country seem more and more willing to accept using the power of the government enforce an entitlement that feel they deserve. I witnessed a perfect example of this watching the last two episodes of the TV show Trading Spouses on Fox.
For those that do not watch the show; over the course of two episodes they take two families and simultaneously trade one of the spouses, usually the Mother, for a couple weeks. For half the time the spouses are living with the other families they live the way the other family lives, then the other half of the time they get to set rules in the home they are visiting based on how they would normally live. They usually find families that are polar opposites of each other. In the end the families are both given $50,000, but the visiting spouse gets to decide how the money is spent.
How did the last two episodes of this show demonstrate a perfect example of the entitlement attitude in this country today?
In the past two episodes (aired 2/16 & 2/23 2007) they dealt with the Andrews and Nelson families. The Andrews family consisted of 5 people; Mom, Dad and three kids. Of the three kids, two were over eighteen (22 & 21) and living at home, a more common practice these days. But that is not the issue that stood out. Over the course of the show we learned that the two “adult children” were in a good amount of debt, sadly this is also a more common situation these days as young people are not educated about how to manage their money and live within their means, plus credit is given out to them like candy on Halloween. But even this was not the issue that stood out.
What stood out was at the end of the second episode when the the letter about how the money would be distributed and spent was read by the mother of the Andrews family. One of the two “adult children” (the 21 year old) was given a sum of money to be spent on her school tuition and books. This didn't settle well with her. Why? Did she not want to go to school? No. Her reason, which she said more than once was; “Why should I pay for something the government will pay for?”
And there you have it. The entitlement attitude. What she fails to realize is that by expecting the government to pay for it she is putting the burden of her education on the backs of the tax payers of this country. She is fine with the government taking the money from us to give to her in the form of paying for her education. An education which thus far has apparently not taught her the basics of money management or she would not be in debt still living at home at 21 years old.
It is this attitude which is adding to the downward spiral of this country. It began back when the Social Security system was put into place to ensure people had the means to live after they retire from working. Instead of educating us on the importance of saving for our retired years, or developing ways to encourage us to save our own money, it was decided that the best way to achieve the goal was to take it from us and give it back later in life. That system is now on the verge of failing to be able to repay the money taken from every near retirement age person.
And that entitlement attitude is what is behind the desire by so many to have a government health care system in this country. For those that think a government health care system would be good, take a close look at similar systems already in place.
- The Veterans Administration is a laughing stock amongst those that rely on it, and many who need help do not get it at all or do not get it in time for the problem to become worse due to bureaucratic read tape and massive mismanagement.
- The Medi-caid & Medi-care systems are just as bad with the bureaucratic read tape and massive mismanagement, but you can ad to that massive amounts of fraud that suck funds out of the system that should be going to help people.
Now imagine those two systems combined and overseeing the health care of everyone in this country.
If we as a nation do not wake up, get rid of this entitlement attitude and take responsibility for ourselves we will destroy ourselves from the inside out. This country was founded on freedom and minimal government control over our day to day lives. We need to return to that ethic and minimize or eliminate how the government controls, coddles, and supports us. Instead we need control and support the government on the issues it is intended to manage.