Entitlements Gone Wild

Currently, it should not at all be difficult for any objective observer to notice that America’s entitlement mentality is at an all-time high and growing. All that anyone must do to soak in this reality is to take a trip to the nearest grocery store or social security office.

At grocery stores and supermarkets all over the country, on a daily basis, the checkout lines are filled with able-bodied people, unloading heaps of name brand sodas and choice steaks from their shopping carts. This is all made possible by state and federal food stamp programs and the ever-burdened taxpayer. If you are one of those unfortunate taxpayers, and you find yourself in line behind one of these individuals, you’d better not be in a hurry. It’s liable to be a long wait that’s made to seem even longer, as a result of mental anguish.

If you find that your investigation at the grocery store doesn’t yield any evidence, which is doubtful, you must only travel to the nearest social security office. Again, if you’re a taxpayer who has paid into the social security system for years, and you’re seeking to make arrangements at the desk for a return on some of this hard earned income, just pull up a seat and don’t hold your breath. You’ll most likely stand just inside the office door, at the end of a long line of able-bodied men and mothers of many children. They almost always at least appear to be in perfect health. Are all these people really disabled? Are we starting to see a pattern here? All these social programs, especially those for food stamps, welfare, and disability compensation, have become extremely and overwhelmingly problematic for everyone concerned.

All these social programs, some technically dating back all the way to the country’s founding, were put in place to help only those who were truly helpless: those indigent, widowed, or physically or mentally disabled individuals who would be allowed enough subsistence to survive with the help of their local almshouses or workhouses. In this former system, even those who received these benefits would do so as a last resort, in such cases where these individuals had no immediate or extended family members who were able or would agree to assist them.

Read More at Western Journalism. By Shawn Paul.