Selfishly Entitled: It’s Easier When You’re Spending Other People’s Money

I work in a job where I get to deal one on one with people. It gives me a great perspective on where our nation’s thinking is today. From my unique position I have come to the realization that people have changed dramatically since I first started my customer-oriented job.

One particular situation occurred the other day that jolted me into reality. I offered bottled water to a client, and she replied that she would prefer coffee. Since we didn’t have coffee, I offered to go to a local vendor who wasn’t too far away and purchase this for her. She then stated that she only drank Starbucks coffee! This would have been a time consuming venture for me, and I decided that this client was going too far in her selfishness!

As I later reflected on how damaging selfishness actually is, I began to consider entitlement spending in our country and how it perpetuates self-seeking behavior.

How did we get to feel so entitled when our nation is headed toward falling off a financial cliff? Entitlement programs started with Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his New Deal and were later sustained by Lyndon Johnson and his Great Society. I was in high school during the early years of LBJ’s social programs, and I didn’t know anyone taking advantage of them. But now almost half of all Americans live in a household receiving some sort of government entitlement.[1] [2]

When did hard work and striving to provide for our families start to fade away? When did we start to think that everyone deserved a house even if they could not afford it? When did EBT cards become so popular? Today even cell phones are offered free to those who want them through a wasteful program that is costing you, the taxpayer, an unbelievable amount of money.[3]

Let’s not forget the folks at the federal government’s General Services Administration (GSA). They were basking in bubbles not too long ago in Las Vegas while smirking behind glasses of champagne. As they toasted with their drinks, do you suppose these government employees thought about the fifteen plus trillion dollar national debt?

It really is very simple. More spending equals more debt, and more debt means the government will be looking to you for more tax dollars.

The government needs to prove to the American taxpayer that our dollars are spent wisely and are not being abused. We can no longer afford to borrow money to pay for expanding programs in a too-generous entitlement system, or to support Washington abuse in the face of our exploding national debt.

Now is the time to hunker down and become accountable, and to move from thinking in terms of “me” to understanding that we are all in this together. We all must make sacrifices in order for our nation to become solvent again. Without this thinking, there will be no hope.

Moral courage is required to do what is right. Cutting back is not fun nor something to look forward to, but we must be diligent and elect those to public office who will do what is right (not necessarily popular) to reign in spending. Only this will restore our nation to its original standard.

It is not too late to change our nation’s selfish and entitled behavior. It is imperative that we do so or we will not survive as the exceptional nation that was built upon the principles of our forefathers.

Join True Capitalism in getting the message out to others. Time is short. Our nation’s future is at stake.