Entitlement will be the death of us?

With federal spending ballooning and the top presidential economic advisor suggesting tax increases are looming around the corner, most responsible Americans are left wondering why should we pay more for what amounts to a false sense of social entitlement? March 18th I wrote about Mitt Romney's book "No Apologies". In that post, I mentioned the exploding costs of social security and the projected bankrupting of American due to Medicaid. To add to that economic insult, Obama's health care monstrosity will dump 30-50 million more people into the already insolvent Medicaid program. While this health care bill wins him short term gains among his base, it has signaled a death toll for future American economic prosperity.

The reason for this rant, is that today I saw advertisements targeting the elderly. This ad encouraged seniors to visit The Scooter Store in order to get their very own scooter. The best part of this ad, is that the scooter is completely free of charge thanks to Medicaid. The advertisement even had the audacity to say to prospective customers not to worry because there would be "no cost to you."

So, if the elderly patient doesn't pay, who does? Oh, that's right, everyone else will pick up the tab for this non-essential device. Sure it might increase the individual's mobility, but who is checking first to see whether the individual truly can not afford this device on their own budget?

I don't know about you, but I'm shocked at our contemporary mindset that is pervasive in popular media. When did it become expected that you should have whatever you want in this world, even if you can't afford it or don't earn it for yourself? Furthermore, when did we start embracing this sentiment that hard working people should have to support free-loaders?

You might have heard people argue that these entitlement programs are the moral thing to do. The next time you hear this mass coddling, tell them the Christian (or other religiously motivated) noble form of charity is based on helping those less fortunate to help themselves. Like a child, the moral way to help the needy is to provide them resources and tools so that they become self-reliant and no longer need your support. Because only in such an upbringing, will the needy acquired character, a work ethic and sense of personal responsibility. When that has happened, then the truly moral end will have been reached, which is that these men will have become uplifted through true freedom. So, the next time you hear this false morality justification of government entitlement programs, tell those pied pipers that what they offer is merely a modern form of slavery that fetters man in a perpetual state of dependency on the state.