The Entitlement Mentality: America’s Achilles Heel – Patriot Update
The Entitlement Mentality: America’s Achilles Heel
Written on December 19, 2011 by David Goetsch
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By adopting an entitlement mentality, Americans are sowing the seeds of their own destruction. Because of an ever-growing list of social programs, subsidies, and entitlements, more than half of all Americans now look to the government for at least a portion of their sustenance. As a result, many Americans have come to view government as the solution to their problems rather than the cause of them. The principles of limited government that undergirded Ronald Reagan’s Republican Revolution are being steadily undermined by the seductive allure of government handouts. This dangerously misguided trend promotes an entitlement mentality in a country that has long been known for its positive work ethic. The entitlement mentality, in turn, encourages the growth of government and the cycle continues, creating a downward spiral toward disaster.
America became an economic superpower not by accident, chance, or luck but because it was established with a free-market economy and people who thrived in an environment of economic freedom. These two pillars of America’s economic success—a free-market economy and economic freedom—hold the key for reversing America’s descent into insolvency. The only contributions to an economic recovery needed from government are: 1) get out of the way, 2) get out of the pockets of Americans, and 3) stop over-regulating businesses and the lives of American citizens. Sharp reductions in spending, taxation, and regulation will do for America’s economy what the government can never do: unleash the power of the free market, encourage entrepreneurship, and reinvigorate America’s work ethic.
After decades of prosperity, America’s economy is being undermined by a rapidly mutating government that devours initiative, drive, innovation, and the capital needed to seed an economic recovery. Too many Americans have bought into the increasingly discredited philosophy of the left that the government is the answer to all problems. No one exemplifies this misguided philosophy more than Maxine Waters, the Democrat Congresswoman from California. During the height of the budget reduction debate in August and September 2011, Waters indulged in a flight of fantasy and proposed increasing government spending rather than cutting it.
Her solution to America’s economic problems was spend, spend, and spend some more. In spite of the demonstrated failure of the hugely expensive stimulus bills, Waters and her colleagues on the left proposed that Congress stop shooting the American economy in the foot and start shooting it in the head. All that this kind of thinking has brought America is an entitlement mentality that will make it increasingly difficult to do what is necessary to effect and economic recovery.
Dr. Goetsch served as a professor of management and leadership for 36 years and was also a college vice-president for 20 of those years. He is a widely-known management trainer and consultant with more than 100 private and public sector clients firms. He is the author of more than 70 books on business, management, and leadership including “Effective Leadership,” “Developmental Leadership,” and “Quality Management.” The latter book is an international best seller that has been translated into several foreign languages inlcuding Korean, Indonesian, and Malaysian. His book “Effective Leadership” is currently being translated into Hindi, the principle language of India. He is currently Chairman of the Board of the Okalooa Economic Development Council in Fort Walton Beach, Florida–an organization of business leaders dedicated to job creation and retention.
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21 Responses to The Entitlement Mentality: America’s Achilles Heel
El Lobo Solo says:
December 19, 2011 at 10:52 am
“Mad Max” has been entrenched in her district of south central Los Angeles for many years handing out & recieving patronage favors/jobs & skirting charges of corruption. However, the demographics of that area are changing with an influx of latino & asiatic minorities. Perhaps a new enterprizing young leader will arise from the ranks to challenge her.
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Adrian Vance says:
December 19, 2011 at 11:00 am
This certainly is true in California where Jerry Brown was the first Governor to introduce public employee unions. Just about every municipality we have has pension obligations they cannot pay. We have 55 year-old firemen who are getting $1,000 a day for the rest of their lives. They cannot understand that this will all have to be renegotiated or it will collapse and they will get nothing. They whine, “We were promised!”
The Two Minute Conservative at http://adrianvance.blogspot.com for political analysis, science and humor. Daily on Kindle.
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Hank is back says:
December 19, 2011 at 3:53 pm
I know this subject is verboten, but what about Social Security and medicare? Aren’t they entitlements as well? Even if you paid into them and feel the government is contractually obligated to pay you back, do you think they can do so without bankrupting this country?
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fltieking says:
December 19, 2011 at 5:47 pm
Hankster- Many good Conservatives have been advocates for phasing out the progams you speak of. . . but liberals won’t let them.
So, being a liberal, what is your take on these programs knowing they will bankrupt the Country?
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fltieking says:
December 19, 2011 at 5:47 pm
Forgot to add – - – Liberals: Sound out the big words or ask for help.
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Dntmkmecmoverther says:
December 19, 2011 at 7:25 pm
I have paid into the Social Security ‘bucket’ for over 40 yrs; getting my investment back is NOT entitlement, it’s a return on my so called ‘investment’. And it’s an investment I had no say in; no direction and no alternative; that money came out of my check NO MATTER WHAT.
That said, I highly doubt I will ever see a penny of it; why? Because snot nosed idiots in DC squandered it all. Crying out loud, any average stock broker or investment councilor would have made those dollars grow like no tomorrow; but our government? SCHITT, they couldn’t invest a dime correctly. And the result is what we have today.
I say, schitkan the SS program and let people like me invest for our own retirement; I can do 100x better at investing than any government bureaucrat.
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Jana says:
December 19, 2011 at 7:36 pm
Agreed! I’ve paid in for 46 years AND we pay into Medicare and Medicaid so where do these people get off telling me SS, medicare/medicaid are entitlement? As far as unemployment, that’s paid for as well and is NOT and entitlement! Entitlement is those people whose entire family for generations has lived off the welfare system! Time and time again you see the welfare mother, no father around, another one in prison, and she has 15 kids thinking she’s entitled to have them paid for by the taxpayer and she’s never worked a day in her life….Entitlements are given to illegal aliens who can walk into any Social Services office and be given food stamps, medicare/medicaid, housing subsidies, free cell phones, and whatever else they need! THOSE are entitlements because those people never paid into the system, not one red cent! So I’m sick & tired of people talking about entitlements and lumping Social Security or unemployment benefits into it!
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Harold Dean says:
December 19, 2011 at 7:53 pm
Medicaid is an entitlement given to the mentioned persons above. Medicare is paid from our paychecks and the supplemental insurance and Part B we have to pay from our social security checks. In fact, they have diverted some of our Medicare funds to prop up Medicaid because there are more illegal aliens on it than the taxpayers can take care of.
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Harold Dean says:
December 19, 2011 at 7:49 pm
No, Social Security and Medicare are not entitlements in the type of definition our Government presently uses. “Entitlements” is defined as something which you are promised as a result of performing some type of equitable performance to earn same. Entitlement as presently used by the Government means Welfare and Medicaid, Food Stamps, etc pure and simple. Social Security was started as an insurance program which the employee and employer paid in equal amounts to fund retirement. Medicare is allegedly funded by the contributions from your paycheck during your working years. The fact that the government has stolen both trust funds to squander on the vote buying process and now has to pay them from the general fund does not make them entitlements. It is simply repaying the alleged loan they made of the funds.
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Robert Lebischak says:
December 19, 2011 at 7:35 pm
We got what we let happen. Where were we when we could have stopped some of this, we sat back and let the government do what it wanted. Now we pay. Lets hope that it’s not too late and we can bring the USA back to the USA.
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Patriot7 says:
December 19, 2011 at 7:52 pm
We are on the same track as the late Roman Empire. When the people chose to have an Emperor, to stay in power, he promised free goodies to the people who became dependent as a result. It’s the same thing today in America. A nation’s lifespan is about 200 years so we are well over our allotted time span. Our only hope is to pray for divine intervention and ask for God’s help in the days ahead.
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Barbara Simpson listener says:
December 19, 2011 at 7:54 pm
You reap what you sow.This is a principle that is still true today
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Barbara Simpson listener says:
December 19, 2011 at 7:54 pm
You reap what you sow.This is a principle that is still true today
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Bruno Boccagalupe says:
December 19, 2011 at 7:56 pm
What does Dr. Goetsch believe entitlements are? A lot of jacklegs think that Social Security and Medicare are govt. hand outs. With those people, I differ. Both of those programs were bought and paid for by the seniors using them. Had the theiving federal govt. not taken SS funds, there would be plenty of money to fund it. We seniors paid everything that was asked of us, now a bunch of progressive liberal jacklegs want to kill us off rather than pay us.
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Bruno Boccagalupe says:
December 19, 2011 at 7:56 pm
What does Dr. Goetsch believe entitlements are? A lot of jacklegs think that Social Security and Medicare are govt. hand outs. With those people, I differ. Both of those programs were bought and paid for by the seniors using them. Had the theiving federal govt. not taken SS funds, there would be plenty of money to fund it. We seniors paid everything that was asked of us, now a bunch of progressive liberal jacklegs want to kill us off rather than pay us.
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Bruno Boccagalupe says:
December 19, 2011 at 7:56 pm
What does Dr. Goetsch believe entitlements are? A lot of jacklegs think that Social Security and Medicare are govt. hand outs. With those people, I differ. Both of those programs were bought and paid for by the seniors using them. Had the theiving federal govt. not taken SS funds, there would be plenty of money to fund it. We seniors paid everything that was asked of us, now a bunch of progressive liberal jacklegs want to kill us off rather than pay us.
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Bruno Boccagalupe says:
December 19, 2011 at 7:56 pm
What does Dr. Goetsch believe entitlements are? A lot of jacklegs think that Social Security and Medicare are govt. hand outs. With those people, I differ. Both of those programs were bought and paid for by the seniors using them. Had the theiving federal govt. not taken SS funds, there would be plenty of money to fund it. We seniors paid everything that was asked of us, now a bunch of progressive liberal jacklegs want to kill us off rather than pay us.
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Bruno Boccagalupe says:
December 19, 2011 at 7:56 pm
What does Dr. Goetsch believe entitlements are? A lot of jacklegs think that Social Security and Medicare are govt. hand outs. With those people, I differ. Both of those programs were bought and paid for by the seniors using them. Had the theiving federal govt. not taken SS funds, there would be plenty of money to fund it. We seniors paid everything that was asked of us, now a bunch of progressive liberal jacklegs want to kill us off rather than pay us.
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Bruno Boccagalupe says:
December 19, 2011 at 7:56 pm
What does Dr. Goetsch believe entitlements are? A lot of jacklegs think that Social Security and Medicare are govt. hand outs. With those people, I differ. Both of those programs were bought and paid for by the seniors using them. Had the theiving federal govt. not taken SS funds, there would be plenty of money to fund it. We seniors paid everything that was asked of us, now a bunch of progressive liberal jacklegs want to kill us off rather than pay us.
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Higgs says:
December 19, 2011 at 8:11 pm
Social Security is not an entitlement, we pay for it with every pay check. Medicare/Medicaid is not an entitlement for those of us who have paid for in every check also. The entitlements are those programs that pay for not doing anything – welfare, government housing, etc. There are numerous other government programs that basically duplicate each other under different names that allows many to “cheat” and get “freebies” for doing nothing except lie on several applications. How else would you explain someone living in a shack that has a Cadillac luxury car or SUV with the fancy rims, a cell phone, satellite TV, and other “extras” many of the middle class can’t afford. I personally know of some who don’t work at all but have these and much more that I can’t afford.
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nvrpc says:
December 19, 2011 at 8:12 pm
They need to cut off this 50 years and many generations of welfare recipients off at the knees today.
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