Entitlements?

Entitlement is a term we hear, on a daily basis; in the broadcast media, print media and out there on the streets. Just what is an entitlement? Who is 'entitled' to what? Are we a nation of entitlements, or are we a people that just want to give a hand to someone who is struggling?

Our current culture of entitlement is an concept mainly promulgated by progressives and is meant to encapsulate the "social norm"" whereby certain groups of people come to expect the government to provide employment opportunities, health care, or general access to things (i.e., food, rent, transportation, student grants, clothing, etc.) to be provided by that government and these people believe this is a basic human right.

Our original Noah Webster's Dictionary (1828 version) defines "entitlement" as, "A grant of nobility made by a King or other Sovereign to a person of common birth." In our current epoch "entitlement" means something different.

Black's Law Dictionary, the Gold Standard of legal definitions from the 1550's, in our 1750 edition, defines an "entitlement" as "A natural law grant of life, liberty and property of which the Sovereign cannot vitiate or amend." This does not need a rephrase. It says an entitlement cannot be "vitiate (d) (that means taken away or remove) nor can it be amended (that means added, subtracted, multiplied or divided). What are we 'entitled' to? I know that last sentence is 'bad' English. Black's Law Dictionary, readily available to the Founding Father's, defined an "entitlement" as a part of Natural Law, an inalienable right, which means the government cannot interfere with "Life, Liberty and Property."

Enter our current age. It started with Social Security. Even though Social Security sounded noble; give those poor old people a check so they can survive, it was something more nefarious. Basically it was a tax money scheme. Social Security set the age in which a person receives a check at age 65. Life expectancy at the time was sixty-two. It does not take a Math Major to figure out that one; Social Security was a scheme to get money flowing into the Federal Treasury. President Roosevelt needed money to engage in his make work projects. In fact, Social Security money was a great Godsend to the Fed's for years, with very little pay out on their part. In 1948, fifty people were paying into Social Security, for every one person receiving benefits. By the time President Johnson left office, 1969, one person was receiving benefits for every eight paying into the system. That is due to the fact that Johnson expanded elegibility to receive Social Security payments. Back in the days, at least until President Reagan took over, the child of a deceased parent could get Social Security payments if they enrolled in a College or University (as a full time student), until age 26. Why did we bold type enrolled? Here was the catch. All a student had to do is enroll in school as a full time student, but never attended any classes. I know of several instances where these supposed "students" enrolled, take their enrollment papers to the Social Security office, get signed off as a "full time student" (thus guaranteeing their check for the next few months) then go back to the College and drop out. Next semester/quarter they would do the exact same thing. Then there is the Supplemental Security Income scam.

Supplemental Security Income (herein called SuSeInc) is administered by the Social Security Administration, but it is not Social Security. SuSeInc is supposed to be a different budget, but we know that is a mere formality. SuSeInc funds are provided for people under age sixty-five for people with disabilities. According to the Social Security Administration website, just about anyone with a disability, real or imagined, can get "free money" through the auspices of the SuSeInc. This includes people that are blind, disabled because of birth or accident or due to mental problems that are unable to work. Every inmate, a member of our group ever met at his job working for the California Department of Corrections at Folsom State Prison or San Quentin, looks forward to getting out and signing up for this SuSeInc. While in prison, these inmates’ sign up for Psych Services portend some sort of 'problem' (i.e., drug abuser, learning disability or improper potty training) and they get a Psych file started. They tell the 'good doctor,' "Gee, ah....I can't wipe my butt because my mommy spanked me when I had a poopey diaper. I have flashbacks when I defecate... I can't get a job." The rest is academic. They run down to the SuSeInc office, claim they are unable to work because they were 'diagnosed' with some sort of 'mental problem' while they were incarcerated and boom, they get a check in the mail. Below, you will find from the Social Security website the benefits as paid in California to people applying for SuSeInc:

That is just in California, these are Federal Payments. The State of California will chime in with Medi-Cal. If you are getting SuSeInc, you are automatically eligible to enroll in Medi-Cal and one could be eligible for Food Stamps. Then there are different county administered programs. I will also note, owning a home (only one) of any value or owning a personal vehicle (only one) of any value does not reduce payments or make the recipient somehow ineligible. This brings us to another group of people that are eligible for a government check, non citizens.

I cringe every time I go to the local bank of America and see people, right off the airplane using their foreign passports as I.D., cashing a green government check, and walking/hobbling/wheeling right on out with $$$$$. They probably worked hard throughout their life, in several un-mentioned countries. Work, in those countries, because of the lack of western technology, is intensive manual labor. Some of these people, no doubt, meet the eligibility requirement of a disability. Many of these un-named countries have no social net for those who are disabled. Now on the books is a requirement that these types of people have to wait seven years to receive benefits. Well, they don't! Our problem is the following. How long should I be forced (through the confiscatory tax system) to pay for someone else's big heart? I remember a case where a man flew into Sac Metro Airport from a foreign land and collapsed. The 911 call was made and this person was rushed to U.C. Davis Med Center and given a quadruple heart bypass surgery. The Sacramento BeeHIND did a little story about this guy. No doubt this story was done to garner support for government programs during some budget battle times. The nitty-gritty of the story: "Gee, look at us, we saved this man, we need more money to save more people." In the story, the man (through an interpreter) said, "Oh, in (omit or fill any country you want) they would have let me die." Our question is, once again the following. Who paid for this? I can just about guarantee you "Joe the Taxpayer" paid from $250,000.00 up to a cool half million dollars.

People like our President, and those of his ilk believe that the government shows it compassion by placing more and more people on government aid. It is real simple, the more people they have dependent upon the government for pay, housing, medical etc., means more votes. When you come right down to it, people, in the privacy of the voting booth, vote for their personal interests. The candidate that has either, one, promised the most money from the public treasury, or two, the candidate that has given the voter most money from the public treasury. These drones, when given the choice of a wealth redistribution candidate or a conservative will always choose the wealth redistribution candidate.

Conversely, dinosaurs like Jack Kemp/Ronald Reagan believe compassion on the part of the government is how many people get off the public 'teet' and become self-sufficient and not dependent upon the government for their daily needs.

Most of the drone class does not realize how cheaply their loyalty and votes are being purchased. They sit around all day, and every couple of weeks their "Nanny" gives them a check. "Sure beats working," they chortle, while going over to Thunder Valley to see if they can hit the progressive slots.

It is high time we stop this insanity! Before you know it, this entire system will collapse on itself and the only thing remaining will be the government apparatus. If you don’t stand on your feet and tell the government “NO,” we will soon be on our knees saying, “Please.”

We wrote more on Welfare and Poverty which explains our solutions to the Welfare State and hope for people trapped in government created poverty.

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