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Definition:
Entitlement
- Entitlement or a 'Sense of Entitlement' is an unrealistic, unmerited
or inappropriate expectation of favorable living conditions and
favorable treatment at the hands of others.
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The other night, a pack of Hollywood celebrities hosted by George Looney gathered for a fundraiser for Balack Obama's re-election campaign. The event raised $15 million. Today, I learned that California has a more than $15 BILLION dollar deficit right now. Do you see the irony?If you were an astronaut traveling alone through space, and you happened upon a friendly planet with affluent and welcoming occupants, would you expect them to give you a home, a job, and a guarantee of financial support if the job were not to go well?
I think there is a widespread and fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of property and stewardship. As long as there has been a universe and the procession of time, it has been incumbent upon living creatures to contract with each other. A contract works best when its outcome is "win/win" for both offeror and offeree. Consideration is exchanged commutatively, and both parties benefit. When we stray from this formula, the universe and its occupants suffer.
Property is a concept more ancient than this planet. Let's look at one aspect of property:
Right to property - e.g. - owning an apartment complex
Right to possession - e.g. - managing an owner's apartment complex
Possession - e.g. - occupying an apartment in the complex
Let's look at another aspect of property;
Public property - e.g. - the bridge at the end of the street
Private property - e.g. - my truck
Personal property - e.g. - my toothbrush
In my diatribes about usury and interest banking, I have railed against just one of the tricks devised to bilk others out of their property. Estate taxes are another vile racket. It is apparent to me that many of the occupants of this universe spend a goodly portion of their existence hatching schemes to deprive other creatures of their property. If you cannot simply walk into your neighbor's yard and snatch his lawnmower, maybe you can elect a politician who will do it for you.
Inevitably, the acquisition (nobly and ignobly) of property is intertwined with the tyranny:liberty paradigm. If you are hell-bent on appropriating the possessions of others, the slickest way to get it done is to oppress them. War, taxes, theft, usury, democracy, servitude, class warfare, fraud, - - - the list goes on.
We know from the Lectures on Faith that our God does not commit naked oppression. He is benevolent, honorable, omniscient, and utterly reliable. He contracts with us so that we can gain benefits. The veil over our memories causes us at times to forget the agreement we made - - hence the tendency on the part of some to expect to get everything for free.
Before we left the pre-existence and found our spirits tabernacled in a body of fleshly elements, we sat down with our Heavenly Father and worked out the mortal experience transaction. He said (and I'm paraphrasing):
"My child, if you agree, I am going to put you in a family in the western United States. You are going to have an opportunity to learn about the fullness of My restored Gospel. I can't force you to do anything, and the choices will be ALL yours. I'll collaborate with you if you stay prayerful, and I'll intervene from time to time when it suits Me. You will face awesome adversities, but it will be worth it for you if you make good decisions. Do you still want to go to Earth, or do you want to sit around here for a few hundred more earth years?"
Then I said:
"Heck, yeah I wanna go down on earth! I'm tired of waiting. I want a big family (like Yours). Put me down there, and I'll do my darndest to serve you and support my family. I'll try to be honorable and respect the properties and liberties of Your other children."
And that was that! The contract was signed. I popped out in the labor and delivery area and remembered nothing !!!! Just because we don't remember all the details does NOT mean that the contract is not still in place. Why else do we plead with God to do stuff for us? He promised, didn't He?
Sadly, the Hamurabis, Woodrow Wilsons, Franklin Roosevelts and Barack Obamas of the world have taught us that in exchange for aliening away our birthright and right to property (to a foreign banker), we can look to "society" for a cradle-to-grave social insurance blanket. This is a Ponzi scheme. If a world-wide government re-distributed ALL of the world's wealth, EVERYBODY would still be grossly dissatisfied.
This is spiritual, folks. It is the devil who preaches this crap. It is all about morality. I chuckle when I hear progressives like Van Jones calling for achievers to hand over their excess property to the under-achieving. The concept of communitarianism is not wrong. It is a fundamental plank of the higher Gospel law. The immorality emerges through the creation of oppressive, nanny-state processes that enslave both rich and poor. Re-distribution of God-given resources must be done voluntarily and by mutually-negotiated contract.
Are there people in your life who think they are entitled to your stuff - people who get angry at you when you don't give them what they want? I am fascinated to see what will happen in California. Governor Brown cannot raise taxes any higher without causing even more Californians to move to Texas. He also appears not to be able to cut any government expenses and entitlement programs.
So, when California (soon) files bankruptcy, who will be the receiver? - the IMF? - Ben Bernanke? - Alan Greenspan? - Paul Volcker? - George Soros? - Sir Evelyn de Rothschild? - China?
Wait - I can already hear the cries that "California is simply TOO BIG TO (let) FAIL!" Problem is - if we "bail out" California, then New York will be on the doorstep demanding that it be bailed out, too - - that it has a right to your hard-confiscated tax money.
Maybe we can get God to confiscate the gold and silver from a neighboring planet and bring it over here to Earth where it's most needed. After all, we are entitled to everything we can confiscate, right?
Last week, JP Morgan Chase admitted that it lost at least $2 Billion in a botched Credit Default Swap transaction. This ill-gotten gamble is likely to end up costing $4 Billion. The media went ballistic. HOW DARE a private bank, the biggest, squander that much private money so irresponsibly? Calls were made for vast new regulations to prevent this from ever happening again. Funny - the Federal government wastes that much (of our) money EVERY SINGLE DAY !!!!!
