The American Way...Went!

There is no room on the ark for entitled people. You better be able to contribute and be willing to work hard, if you can’t, you can’t get on – period! If you are looking for a free ride, you won’t get it here.

This country was founded on the American Dream, a philosophy that with hard work, courage and determination anyone can prosper and achieve success.  Or in the famous words of Mick Jagger  “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find, you get what you need.”  So why is it so many people feel entitled?

You are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the PURSUIT, not happiness itself.  Let’s break that down a bit. 

First of all that means you are entitled to try and obtain happiness, there is nothing in the bill of rights that says you are guaranteed to obtain it.  There is no clause that states that if you try to achieve happiness on your own, but come up short, that someone else will do it for you. 

Secondly there is some effort involved.  That means you need to work toward it.  You know work, that old fashioned concept whereby you exert yourself and you are rewarded by the fruits of that labor.  So sitting on your butt looking for a handout is not part of the equation.  Nowhere in the bill of rights does it say that I need to subsidize your lifestyle.  What happened to good old-fashioned capitalism?  The work ethic that our grandfathers and great-grandfathers built their American Dream on: the harder you work, the better the pay off.

The bill of rights entitles you to life.  The intent is that you are protected from being murdered, not that you are entitled to live your life in middleclass America.  The right to life is not the right to own your own home whether you can afford it or not.  It is not the right to live in the wealthier communities subsidized by the people who work hard to make enough money to live their without anyone else’s assistance.  And it is certainly not the right to a large screen TV, cable, a cell phone, or a car.  These things are not entitlements, they are luxuries and if you don’t understand that, well then you are a large part of the problem.

When my husband and I were laid off last year we sat down and figured out what we had to cut to get by.  We cut a lot of things on the above list and more.  It made life harder, but that is what responsible people do.  They buy what they can afford, they pay their own debts, and they don’t expect anything from anyone.  It is no one else’s job to feed, house, or clothe me and my family, other than my own.  That is why I am writing this blog, and searching for work in fields that aren’t necessarily what I want to do.  Because it is not about desire, it is about personal responsibility. What I can’t figure out is, why is that so hard for so many people to understand?

When did it become commonplace to expect other people to give you things you haven’t earned?  Where is the pride?  Where is the shame?  And before you get on me for being heartless, let me tell you that what I didn’t cut were my donations to the charities I support.  I can no longer give them money, but I can give them other things like time.  I had to cut back, but I didn’t cut them out.  But that is my choice and should not be forced on me by my government. The government is not in the charity business, or at least it shouldn’t be.  It should be in the business of upholding the written laws, securing our national security.  It should not be stealing from the rich to give to the poor. 

The government has no right to take away my hard earned money, the money I am trying to save for my children’s college educations, or my own retirement, and give it to someone else.  Many of our current taxes are levied so they can do just that, force their charities on the taxpayers; insist we give money we worked for to support the causes they think we should.  If I want to support the veterans or the homeless (and I do) I need my money in my hands to do so.  But they take it and give it to the lazy, or the deceptive, or the illegal.  Why is my money subsidizing a murder’s college education, or an illegal immigrant’s medical bills, or a liar’s lifestyle?  Welfare was not set up with that intent.  If you do your research (and I do) then you would know that welfare was originally intended for the widows and orphan’s of our men in uniform and expanded to encompass truly destitute families in the depression, UNTIL they got back on their feet, which they did because they had pride!  It has been mutilated now to give money to anyone who can scam the system and many, many do.  Not all, but a LOT.

You want a suggestion for some of that stimulus money?  Spend it on jobs securing people to investigate welfare recipients and revamp the system so that no one who isn’t truly destitute can collect.  Money isn't free; you have to work for it. Again, I quote The Rolling Stones “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find, you get what you need.”

For God sakes America, can we stop breeding entitlement?  It is not helping anyone, certainly not the hardworking Americans who subsidize the entitled ones, and not even the people you think it is.  See this article on the effects of welfare.  Teach a man to fish and all that.  So stop GIVING so much to so many for so little.  Let Americans earn the pride they are capable of having in themselves if they only put a little bit of hard work into going after the things they want.  The best feeling in the world is earning something through an earnest and strenuous attempt, not having it handed to you. The current system robs people of that feeling.  Not only does it steal money from the hardworking, but it's also stealing pride and potential from those who would be hardworking if they had to be.

So if you are reading this, I hope you have pride, and a sense of personal responsibility. I hope you know what it means to work hard and sacrifice when you have to.  And if you do, then I wish you the best of luck in your pursuit of happiness; you’ve earned it.