Gratitude is something seriously lacking in today’s welfare society. Our increasing redefinition of ‘rights’ has seriously undermined the perception that many of the things we desire should be given to us freely as a government granted entitlement. This is having a nasty effect on our society in general and younger ‘adults’ in particular. I just happened to be watching a reality video show recently, where a major protest turning into rioting, happened in Amsterdam back in 2007. The government was proposing an additional 26 hours annually in the classroom. The students quickly erupted into what seems to have become a new scary norm for our society, a riot, destroying personal property, smashing car windows and the usual means of ‘peaceful protest’ in society. Where and when did it become necessary for destruction of others’ property to make a statement? What happened to the means for participants in civil society to honestly protest decisions one disagrees with? The students felt that some perceived ‘rights’ were violated by the new policy. They felt ‘entitled’ to the status quo as if somehow they were already on the edge of reasonable classroom hours and any additional ones were grounds for committing criminal acts.
What used to be something that carried a bit of stigma, asking for help from others, has morphed into that of entitlement, something we’re owed, and damned if we know or care who is paying for it, and certainly no gratitude need be shown. After all, we shouldn’t have to be grateful for that we’re entitled to and deserve right? The left in their endless pursuit of creating voting blocs of phony victims, has created a monster. We’ve diluted the concept of rights, G-d given rights, as noted by the Founding Fathers into what ever we want like children. Need the government to pay for your healthcare, it’s a right. You want carte-blanche for unreasonable demands of an employer as a union member, it’s a right. Sorry folks, you have G-d given rights of freedom and the pursuit of happiness and that’s it. Society has no obligation to pay for your college education. Your neighbors aren’t on the hook to pay for your bad investment decisions. The Founders alluded to these rights as being “G-d Given” to acknowledge that they weren’t given by the Constitution or the government. This is the mess where we find ourselves in today, that of people ‘demanding’ ever increasing rights and entitlements. A substantial portion of the population believes that government is guarantor and protector of rights and those rights are there for the asking or merely wanting. I see this situation as a natural outcome of progressive policy, by intention and accident. Create enough victims, promise them easy access to services and money, you have their interests in mind, the we’re out for the little guy meme and you get this critical mass of needs and purported rights.
We’ve lost any shame participating in the Welfare State that we find in the America of 2011. Many do NOT see government services as part of a social safety net, merely a cash cow where ‘free’ stuff can be had with no requirement to obtain them other than yelling and holding out your hand. There is absolutely no gratitude for the productive folks that it’s coming from. Remember this disturbing scene from that welfare sow in Detroit from 2009?: I don’t know, his stash. I don’t know. (laughter) I don’t know where he got it from, but he givin’ it to us, to help us. That indeed is the model democrat/Obama voting citizen. All things to ‘help’ come from the state. They don’t give a leaping shit where it comes from, it’s just not a concern or care with that type, and the left actively encourages this. I can’t remember how many times as a conservative, I’ve been called stupid and lacking an education, but do leftist policy makers really want the citizens of our republic to be this ignorant? Wouldn’t the government be best served by informed and engaged citizens? Yes I do know the answer the honest progressives would give, absolutely this is the alleged voters we need. Thomas Jefferson writing to James Madison in 1787 hit dead-on regarding the concept of an educated/informed productive citizen:
“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. Enable them to see that it is their interest to preserve peace and order, and they will preserve them. And it requires no very high degree of education to convince them of this. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”
We don’t need an ivy league or even much beyond secondary education levels, to ensure the electorate has the preservation of liberty and the Republic as an inherently personal interest. That they lack any form of gratitude for what has been given them merely through having freedom is astounding. My specific question is when did this happen? Obviously it’s been some time in coming, likely at the dawn of The Great Society, but we seem to have reached a critical juncture where this lack of gratitude has become a societal norm. It’s frightening to think that 47% of our populace pays no taxes and that a significant subset of that group fits this description.
We seemed to have taken a step backwards becoming infants again. Most of human history has been that of achieving independence from parents heralding their entry into adulthood. That’s gone from the psyche of these people, they yearn for dependency, substituting the confiscated prosperity of others in the form of welfare, for mommy and daddy. Just like a surly 5-year old, they want what they want right now and when they get it, could care less about saying “Thank You”.
Since we have so many infants in society, it’s high time the adults teach them some lessons and spanking them where needed. Be grateful for what you’re being given or it damn well will stop.
-Carry On