Our Entitlement Culture

We have been hearing for some time, and will no doubt continue to hear for at least a while longer, at least through this election cycle, about entitlements. That convenient buzzword effectively gets people thinking emotionally (is that an oxymoron?) instead of logically. When politicians talk about “entitlement spending” it’s generally to politicize Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. Teachers in affluent districts (and even occasionally in less affluent ones) often object to “entitled kids” expecting everything to be handed to them or have their path paved to remove all obstacles (even those of their own making) to success. 

The most common railings, by both politicians and their riled up constituents, however, are against so-called welfare queens, the chronically disabled, or perpetually unemployed who take advantage of the social safety net to game the system because they feel “entitled” to be supported by the rest of us. Undocumented immigrants who feel entitled to suck the rest of us early arrivers dry are another common target. Of course there is at least a fair amount of anecdotal evidence that these people do exist, although not in the numbers we’re led to believe by politicians and others trying to score polling points.

I understand the resentment from people who play by the rules against this (statistically) very small minority. However, in today’s economy, very few are safe from becoming, at least temporarily, the target of their own outrage, through no fault of their own. An accident, a layoff, a run of bad luck (not talking about your casino trips here), a natural  (or even unnatural) disaster, and the majority of Americans with insufficient savings may need to access one government program or another.

But there’s a different kind of entitlement that doesn’t get headlines, or if it does, doesn’t get labelled as such. One made the news recently as an audit of Fox School District. The former Fox superintendent apparently felt entitled to rip off her district for personal expenses; she somehow felt that she deserved more than she was getting, which was one of the highest salaries for that position in the state as well as all the other perks, like car expenses, travel expenses, a job for her husband, etc.

She’s not alone in that feeling. If we’re honest with ourselves, almost all of us at some point in time or another have felt like we were entitled to more than we’re getting. That doesn’t give us the right to take advantage of our position to “even the score” or get what we (think we) deserve. But we’ve all had bosses who think their (appointed, not anointed) positions somehow entitle them to whatever advantages in power, money or perks they can secure, even at the expense of their minions.

I would suggest that there is at least as much, and probably more, a sense of entitlement among the rich and powerful than among their hirelings on the lower rungs of the ladder. You need look no further (nor very hard) than at the two (likely) presidential candidates from the Democrat and Republican parties, both of whom think they are somehow entitled to a different set of rules than the rest of us. They are joined by a large majority of the men and women of both parties who make up Congress. We are governed by an entitled elite who then manipulate the penny-ante actions of the regular and poor folks to fire up their political base. Ironically, all of the above mentioned will campaign against this entitlement culture.

The super-rich are also often super-entitled, failing to recognize that their position is, almost always, based on advantages they didn’t earn, but rather came through either genetic or socioeconomic lottery wins. Stan Kroenke, the Koch brothers, and so many others seem to think that they somehow earned their societal (read monetary) status, and are entitled to keep every penny. I’m not denying some may have invested their own work and effort, but none of them started at Square 1 (to say nothing of not even being on the board, as in the case of so many).

How many of us feel entitled to the numerous middle class welfare programs, such as subsidized retirement plans (IRAs, 401-Ks, 403-Bs, etc.), health insurance (tax deductible insurance plans, HSAs, etc.), uncapped mortgage deductions, ridiculously low ceilings for social security contributions (athletes making multiple millions a year contribute the same amount to the SSA as the aforementioned Fox superintendent and her principals). Wealthy seniors qualify for the same Medicare benefits as their impoverished brethren and sistren.

As much as we might wish to, let’s not forget the Stanford U. rapist (and his father), also supreme examples of an entitled attitude. Or the Affluenza teen from Texas. Or entitled athletes who believe themselves immune from the consequences of their actions. And don’t even get me started on celebrity culture. True believers on both poles of the political spectrum feel entitled to name call and ridicule anyone who might have an alternative point of view. Does freedom of speech really entitle us to insult others, just because we oppose their (political) opinions?  Is it unreasonable to expect to be entitled to respect from others with whom we disagree? 

My point is that entitled attitudes cover the political and socio-economic spectrum. It’s easy to demonize one segment, but we might want to look inward before pointing a finger and perhaps instead try extending, if not a hand of friendship, at least respect.