March 21, 2009
You Do Not Have The Right
I’m sick and tired of people in this country thinking they have a right to everything. Our sense of entitlement is alarming. For clarification, here are a few (off the top of my head) “rights” that are not the famed inalienable rights endowed to us by our Creator, rather these rights have been created by our government:
1. You do not have a right to a job. No one owes you a job, and the government doesn’t have the right to steal money from me to “create” a job for you.
2. You do not have a right to a house, or the American Dream. You have a right to pursue said dream without government interference. If in your pursuit to live this dream you buy a house (or anything else) that you can’t afford, the government does not have the right to steal from me to pay for you to continue “living the dream.”
3. You do not have a right to a retirement account provided by your children. You know that at some point in your life you will be old and won’t want, or be able, to work. Plan accordingly. The government does not have the right to steal from your children so that you can vacation in Florida every winter.
4. You do not have a right to an education (yes, I mean any education), especially higher education. Once again, the government does not have the right to steal from me to provide an education for you and/or your child(ren).
5. You do not have a right to credit. The government has no right to steal from me, in order to pay banks to give credit to you, which you have obviously been deemed unworthy of having. Pay your bills, and pay them on time. You’ll be amazed how much credit you can get.
6. You do not have a right to health care, and neither does your kid. If you want quality health care, then get quality insurance. If it was as important to you as you claim it is, you would make it a priority and cut back on other expenses. What kind of car are you driving? How many cell phones, TVs, computers, etc. does you family own? How many times do you eat out a week and where?
7. Fat people, this one is for you: Your love for food does not give you the right to sit at home collecting a disability check stolen from me. If you are too fat to work—which is absurd in a telecommuting age—go on a diet. In addition, you don’t have a right to one of those motorized wheelchairs/scooters because you have become too fat to walk. You do have the right to cut down on your calorie intake and exercise, though.
8. You do not have a right to birth control or abortion, and you certainly don’t have a right to either of those things for “free.” Killing your unborn child is not in the Constitution and never is it mentioned that your fellow citizens should be paying for it. Women: close your legs. Men: take a cold shower.
9. Farmers, here’s my shout out for you: You do not have a right to own a farm. Why am I paying for you not to produce food? Sorry, but we all have to go sometime, and that means family businesses, too (although, I am fully aware of the fact that the main beneficiaries of farming subsidies are huge farming corporations and not your mom and pop farmer that politicians lead us to believe).
10. You do not have a right to digital TV. Government does not have the right to force us into digital TV and government does not have the right to take money from me because you can’t afford to upgrade, yet.
Whenever you hear that something is “free” or that the “government” is paying for it, don’t be fooled. Nothing is free and when they say the government they mean you and your fellow citizens, and your children, and their children, and….
Would you go to your neighbor and demand that he pay your mortgage? Do you think your health care should be his responsibility? Should his mortgage and health care be yours? Out of your selfishness and greed you allow politicians to buy your vote with your neighbor’s hard-earned cash.
14 Comments »
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I rejoice that you have preserved my right to be offended.
But if you want to know about the insidious origin of what you’re attacking, see
http://slashdot.org/~smitty_one_each/journal/196922
Comment by smitty1e — March 21, 2009 @ 5:19 pm
I am aware of it. Too bad for FDR he was not God, as Barack Obama is not the second coming of Christ, and did not have the authority to bestow rights upon the people. I just don’t get how people rationalize that it’s OK to be stealing from your fellow citizens to subsidize their own life. I could never walk myself into an office and apply for public assistance. I would be too ashamed of myself. I would do whatever it took to make sure that day never arrived.
Comment by Monique — March 21, 2009 @ 5:30 pm
LOVE this dead on post! I couldn’t agree more and in accordance with RSM’s rule 2, am adding it to my linkfest today.
I don’t understand exactly WHERE this sense of entitlement originated…I mean to the extent that it has developed today. While there are many hard working people in America who still have a strong work ethic, I am puzzled by those that are so proud of the fact that someone is giving them a house, that the government buys their groceries, that they didn’t have to pay for this or for that…
Octomom is an example. Meh.
Comment by Pat — March 22, 2009 @ 10:13 am
Your list of rights is dead on. Never say never though: “I could never walk myself into an office and apply for public assistance. I would be too ashamed of myself.”
Public assistance exists for a reason and there times when it is needed and warranted. The problem I have with our current system (the same one that has been in place for years) is that it rewards those who stay on public assistance and punishes those who try to work their way off of it.
Comment by Seymour — March 22, 2009 @ 11:57 am
Point well taken, Seymour. Have you ever seen the movie Cinderella Man, with Russell Crowe? It’s one of my favorite movies. Anyway, at some point in the movie he has to take public assistance. Then, and I don’t want to ruin the movie, at some point he is able to pay it back.
The best part of the film is when he enters the public assistance office and pays back every dime he every borrowed. So, I would like to think, even if I ever did need it to take it, as soon as I could, I would pay it back.
Comment by Monique — March 22, 2009 @ 12:00 pm
Yup, seen the movie and that is a great part with a great message.
Comment by Seymour — March 22, 2009 @ 3:40 pm
As Milton Friedman said, “you can spend someone else’s money only by taking it away as government does. The use of force is therefore at the very heart of the welfare state.”
Great analysis Moe-dawg.
Comment by GMJ — March 22, 2009 @ 7:18 pm
[...] you know that your rights are different from your wants? As my Dad always says , “Wish in one hand and sh*t in the [...]
Pingback by Get Your Learn On… « Shades of Gray — March 23, 2009 @ 6:20 am
If only our kids in schools were taught these very significant truths we would all be better off.
Good work.
Comment by Robert — March 23, 2009 @ 3:18 pm
“Pay your bills, and pay them on time. You’ll be amazed how much credit you can get.”
Ain’t that ever the truth.
I started a checking account a little before 1990, and after a few months of deposits, applied for a traditional Mastercard and traditional Visa. Limit on each card was, as best as my memory serves me, $500.
Today, after being as responsible with credit as I could, both those cards have over the years been successively upgraded by the bank to the point that the Visa is now Platinum, and the Mastercard is now Gold, with limits of $25,000 and $22,500 respectively.
Comment by Blacque Jacques Shellacque — March 24, 2009 @ 12:54 am
I’m guessing that none of the people who agree with this selfish American have ever had to ask anyone for anything. They came out of the womb ready to completely care for themselves & their families without regard to the environment they were born into.
1) American business does not have the right to trick people out of their money and they say ‘buyer beware’
2) American citizens have the right to spew their opinion back to themselves and others who agree with them so they can feel justified in their narcissism ( look it up.)
Comment by matt — March 27, 2009 @ 10:56 am
“people have property rights in themselves, i.e., own themselves, they have a right to dispose of themselves anyway they please so long as they do not violate the property rights of others”
http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/articles/fee/organs.html
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