Entitlements

Entitlements; how do we come to believe we are entitled to receive resources that someone else has earned? It is almost sociopathic when you think about it. You have something you worked hard for; I don't have it, but I want it. I believe I am "entitled" to it and because of my entitlement you should be

honored to give it to me.

Now enters a socialist; if you believe I am not entitled to your resources, the socialist simply regulates, makes policy, passes laws, taxes and confiscates my resources and "redistributes" them to those of their choice.

Some say it is Christian to "help those in need" and we should be kind enough to do it. That is true, in the Christian sense we should want to help by sharing what we have to those in need. The difference between Christian giving and socialistic taking is the choice of the individual.

A modern definition of entitlement is "to give somebody the right to have or to do something." Entitlement in modern America has become a perceived "right" to have someone else's resources. The enactment of entitlement in the United States has been fundamentally changed to not only mean those who have an identified, verified "need" for assistance, but now also to those who are "entitled" to assistance in the form of redistribution of wealth. Another dimension of entitlement has come to mean long-term, perhaps even for a lifetime a continual process of redistributing resources from those who have it to those who don't.

 At what point in our history did the concept and practice of entitlement to the resources of others become a "right" in our society?     JBK