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Taken from Galt's Gulch:

Are you entitled? You are aren’t you…

I’m going to brag for a second so bear with me. I have the brightest kids, I really do. My oldest is constantly bringing up some of the deepest, most complex topics and questions for discussion and some incredible insight for a teenager (despite occasionally thinking she knows everything). Something she mentioned recently was wise beyond her years and I simply must share it.

It has to do with the whole “occupy” movement and wealth and the distribution (or lack thereof). Her point went something like this…

Many of the wealthy, or rich if you must, have become accustom to their lifestyle and have grown to accept it as their due. In many cases they didn’t do anything to earn what they have received and even those that DID do something to earn what they’ve got, many have come to look down on those who have less. Their attitude is one of superiority, better than everyone not in their ‘tax bracket’ (my words, not hers). They have come to expect that their way of life and the comforts they enjoy are no more and no less than they are entitled to (her words, not mine). They would never USE the “E” word to describe themselves, only to describe the ‘huddled masses’ but they are entitled just the same.

Out of the mouths of babes. Now don’t get me wrong, she wasn’t condoning the occupy crowd…not in the least. If she were allowed to swear I’m sure she could come up with some real doozeys when it comes to that group. She has nothing but scorn and contempt for them whenever we they are a topic of conversation or they come up on the radio but her point is valid nonetheless. How much more or less entitled to ”their lifestyle” at the expense of others are the rich (not what they’ve earned…totally different topic) than the poor are to “someone else’s money”?

Now I have to draw a distinction here because this is where people are, and have been, getting pissy. I’m not saying tax the rich out of existence. I’m not saying tax the rich more because they make more. I’m not saying “From each according to their ability; To each according to their need.” Don’t go there because that’s not where I’m headed. I’m talking about a mentality, a frame of mind, something that says you deserve something for no real reason.

Nobody, I repeat NOBODY deserves a private jet, gold-plated toilet fixtures, caviar, servants, a 10,000-100,000 sq/ft home, a stable full of million dollar cars or a harem of women. Period. On the other hand, nobody deserves to have a free home, free food, free cars, free cell phone service, free Internet service, free cable and never have to lift a finger for it. Period. The key word in both of those sentences is DESERVES and that is the problem with the entitlement mentality.

At the, I hesitate to use this term but oh well, lower end of the spectrum you have those who expect to do nothing and get something for it. They want welfare to pay for food, shelter and not just the ‘necesities’ of life but the perks as well. Being poor doesn’t carry the stigma that it used to. Relying on the government, or anyone else for that matter, no longer has any shame associated with it. Why should I do anything when someone else will pick up the slack.

At the upper end the wealthy have gotten just as bad. They feel that they deserve to be treated better because they have more money. They feel that their crap doesn’t stink because they had expensive steak and caviar the night before. They have ‘more’ so they, in many but admittedly not all cases, feel they deserve this, that or the other…it is their “due”.

The two entitlements look different but they are, at their base, very much the same. They deserve something…”because”, and I’m sorry, being wealthy enough to pay for it doesn’t always cut it. That’s simply the means justifying the ends. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should (paraphrase…Laura Dern – Jurassic Park).

Would we give a rich person a pass on something of questionable ‘morality’ because they could afford it? Would we give a poor person a pass on something of questionable legality if it was to feed a dying baby…a truly dying baby.

So, are you entitled? Think about it before you pop off because the answer just might surprise you…

I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.

–John

Interested to read what Sarah has to say about this.