Christmas time is a season of gratitude. Whether it’s because we reflect upon the birth of the Christ child or the blessings of the past year, the holiday often prompts a sense of appreciation and thankfulness, as well as the tradition of gift-giving.
And this year, the season of giving and receiving gifts comes in sharp contrast to a succession of months pervaded with a sense of entitlement.
An entitlement mentality _ a sense of being owed something for nothing _ settles in when people interpret wants as needs and then view those needs as rights. And once something is understood as a “right,” people tend to hold government responsible for providing it.
This “government-owes-us” mentality threatens not only the spirit of Christmas but the very fabric of a just and prosperous society.
For America’s founders, the list of basic individual rights included life, liberty and property. The founders asserted that God provides these rights and governments are responsible to protect them.
Over the years, the list of what Americans think they deserve from government has ballooned. Visit an “Occupy” protest encampment, and you’ll hear claims for the right to a high-paying job, home ownership, comprehensive health care and freedom from college debt. Many Americans think retirement at age 65 is an automatic right, regardless of circumstances.
And, around the holiday season, some of our citizens proclaim the supposed right not to be offended by religious symbols displayed in public.
Many events of 2011, from the uprising in Greece to the downgrading of America’s credit rating, revealed the dangers of runaway spending on Social Security and other entitlement programs. Less noticed was the degrading effect an insidious entitlement mentality has on the moral fabric of a people.
Such a “we’re due” attitude can suppress aspiration and sap the ambition to work. It often accompanies envy and class warfare. And it can weaken personal bonds of mutual responsibility and care among citizens.
This outlook, of course, clashes with the attitudes of gift-giving and thankfulness that mark the Christmas season.
Giving gifts can be a powerful thing. Gifts create a kind of momentum of good will that bind both giver and receiver in a more personal relationship. The giver often is motivated by the desire to help, while the receiver usually is motivated by gratitude to give back, at a minimum, an expression of thanks.
This seemingly basic dynamic is important when it comes to tackling social ills. If conditions permit, gift-givers often have a vested interest in seeing that the desired objective of their help is achieved. For example, we desire the recipient to use our gift of money to purchase food instead of illegal drugs. By the same token, the receiver often desires to demonstrate good stewardship of the gift — by using it wisely rather than wastefully, for instance.
Entitlements foster a different social relationship, mainly because governments typically deliver the benefits through impersonal, top-down programs.
These aren’t personal, voluntary acts taken on behalf of a friend, neighbor or someone else we know. Entitlement programs are funded by taxes, which government mandates under threat of penalty. The requirement often fosters a sense of resentment among taxpayers rather than a desire to help others.
And on the other side, an entitlement mentality tends to undercut the feeling and offering of gratitude. In fact, sometimes that sense of entitlement tempts recipients to “play” the system, leading to waste, fraud and long-term dependence on the dole.
In short, ever-expanding entitlements aren’t just a fiscal liability; they’re a moral threat as well. They have the power to shape cultural attitudes and social dynamics. Americans need to be aware of this potential, so we not only can avoid financial collapse but also foster the kinds of relationships most conducive to genuine compassion and flourishing.
As we celebrate the holidays, let’s give thanks for — and diligently protect — our God-given rights. But let’s also pay attention to the dynamics that play out with the giving and receiving of presents.
This is a season for reflecting especially on gifts of grace — blessings to which we aren’t necessarily entitled. May gratitude move us to give freely and generously to others in the New Year.
• Messmore is a research fellow in the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation.
Comments (19)
Add commentSmells the same
I didn't have to get 1/3 of the way through this piece before I sniffed out the stench of the Heritage Foundation. And even better, the DeVos Center, funded by the Amway billionaires.
And why not? Day after Christmas. The Empire staff wanted to enjoy their holiday too, as they should. So just go to the old reliable well again, deep with an endless supply of canned editorials covering pretty much any subject, just the right length, professionally edited... and they're FREE! This is the 'Easy Button' for newspaper publishers. And that's exactly what the Koch and DeVos brothers want.
The gist of this article? Pretty much like all the rest of them. Government services which might require the rich to pay more taxes are not only bad, they're IMMORAL too!
More spin from the .001% to convince the little people to accept their lot in life and shut up.
elite tax code forgotten
Interesting how the author does not care to mention the entitlements one can purchase through contributions to some Senator or Congressman. There are so many unique provisions of the tax code allowing a very limited number of individuals to be special. That should be the focus of the author's rage.
We hear the cries on how these special things are all needed to get the job creators to continue to grow jobs. For job-creator is a magic word when it come to why our system allows the unequal treatment of income taxes. Our politicians have created a system that typifies the idea: all people are equal ... some are just more equal than others. You can buy you special status by just prefacing your request with: as a job creator I need this special thing for just me. Once you get your perk you never ever actually have to show where you created a single job.
just like
Just like obamas creation of jobs?
More tripe from the CEO's
More tripe from the CEO's "biblical" staff at the Heritage Foundation trying to convince us that they'd have more and better faith-based programs to assist the poor if they didn't have to pay those pesky minimum wages and federal taxes.
Amen, Latitude 58
I made it about 1/3 of the way too before the nausea kicked in. Typical drival from the right. It's disappointing that the Empire persists in publishing the "gospel according to the Heritage Foundation". So, I'm "entitled" because I'm against corporations and banks manipulating tax laws and influencing government to decrease support to the PUBLIC programs put in place to maybe, possibly, prevent the downslide of the majority of this country's citizens into poverty, no education, poor heath, etc...due to the ensuing greed of the corporate beast? It's a vicious cycle, and blaming the victim is just another tread on the tank the right wing conservatives are driving over the rest of us.
And yes, why is there no mention of the entitlement the 1% feel to our tax dollars? Sleezy, biased article. Waste of ink.
NOT an entitlement I PAID FOR IT!
More bull pucky from the 1% Foundation. The DeVos "Foundation" is funded by the Scamway pyramid scam family.
Social Security is not an "entitlement". I've been paying Social Security payroll tax or self employment tax since I was 13, and I expect the insurance that I've been paying for all my life to start paying out.
The Social Security funding "problem" is a lie that's been repeated so much that gullible people now believe it. There is no problem. The fund is solvent, and can pay full benefits for the next 25 years.
The only thing preventing it from being able to pay full benefits into the infinite future is the cap on the payroll tax at $104,000. The way to make it solvent forever is to tax ALL income so it captures the same percentage of dividends and hedge fund income as it does of wages for working folks.
The reason the cap exists is that the rich don't want to pay their fair share of SS taxes.
These canned rightwing editorials in the Vampire are getting really tiresome, full of specious arguments about why the rich shouldn't have to pay and corporations should be allowed to pollute and produce unsafe products.
If you are saying it here,
If you are saying it here, then PLEASE, take a moment to let your Representatives and the Pres. know what you think about this right-wing crap.
by the way, islandhopper Pres. Obama and the Democrats created more jobs in 2010 than Bush did in 8 years.
Its pretty easy to look this up.
Google: who created more jobs Obama or Bush?
My wish for 2012 - please God
My wish for 2012 - please God let the truth prevail.
Now I'm going onto the Heritage site to pay my New Year's dues.
joanne
you mean jobs at Solyndra?
The latest scandal to come to light is the immorality tale of Solynda -- a solar company that had failure stamped all over it according to private and government analysts, but that nevertheless was granted a 500 million dollar plus loan guarantee by Obama's Department of Energy through a process that ignored government rules meant to protect taxpayers. It was a process that seemingly was greased by active intervention by the White House and perhaps frequent visits to the White House by George Kaiser, whose foundation is the single largest private investor in Solyndra.
Kaiser is a major Democratic donor and bundler for Barack Obama. The Energy Information Administration says that 14.7 billion dollars in taxpayers' money was handed directly to renewable energy companies last year. Recall that it was President Obama himself who defined politics as a way to "reward friends."
The jobs being protected by this outpouring of money are those of Obama and Biden and their friends in the federal government and Democratic Party.
But, I digress . Obama doesn't mention his donors that benefit from his spending; he instead touts the jobs being generated -- if not the electricity (because these ventures seldom generate any). As the Weekly Standard aptly puts it "green jobs have become a euphemism for crony capitalism" .
In 2009, Obama dedicated $7.2 billion dollars of stimulus to build 'clean tech" jobs.
How has he done so far on that job front?
There is a litany of failed efforts to create jobs. Three hundred million dollars went to Johnson Controls to make electric batteries. According to the White House, which errs on the side of optimism if not delusion, that led to the creation of ...drum roll please...150 jobs. That comes out to a cost of $2 million per job. Investor's Business Daily has listed more examples of the "Wasted Stimulus" but the examples abound are far too numerous to list.
Or prehaps you mean Fisker Automotive based in California but manufactured in Finland yep there's a lot of jobs for ya.
A lot of truth here
The end of this article got a little thick but the beginning was spot on. A lot of people in this country think they're being owed something. Obama has played into this perfectly, making minorities feel they've been betrayed by the evil majority and now they're owed. We have the evil "rich" who take from us all. Throw in political correctness which is out of control and its now wonder we're in the state we're in.
cuts both ways
See Joanne, google cuts both ways, why even the huff post has stuff thats slamming the flim flam man
Islandhopper??your post is
Islandhopper??
your post is just "spin" that you cut, copied and then pasted here from the right-wing blog, American Thinker whos Editor "Ed Laskey" states "Foxs News is about fair balanced rerporting".
The FACT is Pres. Obama in his first 2 years really did create more jobs (even in a bad economy) than Bush did in his entire 8 year term.
Typical, Joanne
The Rightie-Tighties here are pretty much all about cut-n-paste from one of the industry-funded blog sites set up to spoon feed them with talking points.
Original thought is not one of their strong points.
just the
just the facts mam. yup cut & pastem mam, just the facts.
bookem dano before he gets done with his (8th or 9th vacation.), in between all those rounds of golf, but before the NBA playoffs
Obama??? Really what the heck is the difference?
Islandhopper...Who do you think you are? Some kinda Jedi waving your hands around like that? Mind tricks don't work on us. You gotta go to Iowa for that.....
good one mama t
Implying you've got a mind now thats rich!
Thanks for the chuckle
I like these right wing editorials
...they give the world an inside look at the insanity of the Heritage Foundation and its christianoid lemmings.
It's just regurgitated buzz words from the likes of Rush Limpuke and his minions. "Entitlement mentality" is one of his most overused buzz phrases on his show, and the Heritage Foundation regurgitates them.
As dude said above, original thought is not possible with the right-wing. They mindlessly conform to whatever their Fox News blonds vomit before them.
It's easier than thinking.
And always, always pander to your right-wing base of christianoids by throwing out a few of those christian buzz words as well. It's a religion which is becoming exponentially irrelevant and insignificant in the cyber age.
"Listen to the dull and ignorant, for they too have a story." - Desiderata
Keep 'em coming, Empire.
When the left-wing leaches
When the left-wing leaches can not attack the substance of the piece, they attack the messenger, i.e. heritage foundation.
yes many of the "rich" do indeed receive preferential tax treatment. But the fix for that is NOT higher taxes, it is a flat tax, with no deductions for buying the fire bomb, ummm, I mean the Chev Volt, or for buying art work for the office.
We must remove the ability of Washington D.C. to play favorites with the tax code.
And
And always, always pander to your left-wing base of for the greater good by throwing out a few of those liberal buzz words as well.
Flat tax a fix? Hahaha
Madison89 said, "yes many of the "rich" do indeed receive preferential tax treatment. But the fix for that is NOT higher taxes, it is a flat tax"
That is ridiculous!!! A flat tax is hugely regressive!!! Those with lower incomes will pay a higher proportion of their income in total taxes than the affluent do. The marginal value of income declines with the amount of income (the last $100 of income of a family living near poverty being considerably more valuable than the last $100 of income of a millionaire), so taxing that last $100 of income the same amount, despite vast differences in the marginal value of money, is unfair.
Imagine that, a rightie wanting to change the tax code in such a way that it still hurts the poor and helps the rich!