Entitlement mentality

[angus]

no.

Our Founding Fathers did not write that people should be secure; they said that the people should be free.  The security aspect is a recent invention. 

Janis Joplin wrote that "Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose."  I think I agree with that.  I have ever since I heard that lyric when I was a toddler, and then a few years later I learned that Jefferson wrote that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..."

I agree with both of those statements.  You have the right to roll the dice.  You have the right to tell me to get bent.  You have the right not to be enslaved.  You have the right to hold your tongue.  You have the right to waggle your tongue.  You have the right to enjoy the fruits of your labor.  You have the right to an attorney.  You have the right to commune with whatever gods you think might hear your prayers.  You have the right to associate with whomever you please.  You have the right to bitch about the way you are treated.  Those are your rights.  You have no other rights.  You may have other privileges, but you have to earn those.  Rights are things that come for free.  Social benefits are hard-earned.  They are not free.  Social benefits come with social skills.  Get back to me after you have given some thought to raising a child.  A gifted child.  A spoiled child.  Get back to me after you have seriously considered social skills, social responsibilities, and social benefits.  Grow up a little, see the world, educate a human.  At that point, we might be able to have a serious conversation about social benefits, and whether humans might reasonably consider them a bequest of their creators.  At the moment, I am inclined to think that they should not be taken for granted.