You're Entitled

Are entitlements a bad thing? - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Back in the 1980’s, liberal was a perfectly acceptable word, one with a noble political history. In short order, the word was gutted and destroyed -- by Reagan/Bush operatives and a passive press. It came to mean “uber politically correct, welfare-loving communist”. The patrician Kennedy family who gave us the Peace Corps and the Roosevelts who gave us FDIC were relegated to an evil subclass of dare I say ...liberals. President Bush #1 described Bill Clinton derisively as a “damn liberal!”. The media and liberals themselves gave into this word bias and moved ever so quietly to the term progressive.

Now in the 2010’s, I’m seeing a similar hatchet job done to the word entitlement. Dictionary.com defines entitlement as “the right to guaranteed benefits under a government program”. This doesn't seem so inherently evil or bad. There are a litany of entitlements that Republicans revere and respect:

Republican-approved Entitlements:

o Modern highways, free of toll charges
o Military protection from unrest or invasion
o Police and fire protection
o A free public education
o Space advancement and exploration
o Farm subsidies
o National parks
o Voting for people with ID’s
o Government grants for health initiatives and research

These are all expensive programs which have been deemed generally beneficial and necessary. They are noble enough in their intent -- we don’t have to question whether they need to be canceled, scuttled or privatized (for the most part).

Now here are the mid-century Democratic Entitlements which still incur the wrath of “Old Guard” GOP:

o Social Security -- Government guaranteed pension for widows, orphans, disabled and those advanced in age
o Minimum wage -- a minimum wage rate for jobs, providing a livable baseline for people in low-skill entry level jobs
o Medicare/Medicaid -- Government health subsidies for poor, indigent and aged Americans

Note that the revocation of the three above items would take us back to the age of poor houses, flophouses and debtors’ prisons. To object to specifics of these programs might merely make you a fiscal conservative. To hate them without qualification makes you somewhat a heartless Simon Legree who would tie a penniless mother to a railroad track.

Affordable Health Care which comes on-line this October 1st has exacted perhaps the greatest, most protracted temper tantrum from the Old Guard GOP. The absolute outrage -- that 1 of 3 Texans now uninsured might finally be covered with health insurance. Oh, the humanity! Angry, nasty volleys have been directed using many new word games. “Obamacare” replaces “Affordable Care”. Entitlement is snarled like a word more foul than a cuss word. Republicans be aware -- entitlement refers also to the fire hydrant on the street and the police officer watching your neighborhood. Yes, those are entitlements. They are reasonable social and government expectations. The same type of reasonable assertion that says a black child from Oak Cliff with cancer should have access to the same advanced treatment as a white child in University Park. We have in our country’s charter the concept of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- good health is a cornerstone of that. Yes, we are entitled to it.

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