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Independence Day Weekend

Americans celebrate our independence with annual traditions.

Based on the current state of our country, which item best represents what you will be doing this holiday weekend?

Modernize my home to be energy efficient according to O’s standards
Lowering the asking price on the sale of my home. AGAIN
Writing another letter to my Congressional Rep – that I know they won’t read. AGAIN
Tuning out ANY coverage of Michael Jackson
Scheduling any potential surgeries I think I may need
Updating my family’s passports
Using Hamburger Helper for my July 4th BBQ
Going to warehouse store to buy normal incandescent light bulbs – in bulk
Tuning out ANY coverage of “the one”

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Four Radical Chinese Muslims Transferred to Bermuda

Four Chinese Uighers (radical Chinese Muslims) were recently transferred to Bermuda. Do you think it's a good idea to release Gitmo detainees to idyllic vacation retreats?

Yes
No
Not Sure

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May 22, 2008

Exclusive: Are We Entitled to Be Entitled?

Gabriel Garnica, Esq.

You see it everywhere. Some Americans are fascinated, enthralled and simply giddy about it. The "it" I speak of is entitlement, and while there are those who may think that they are entitled to be entitled, they are once again barking up the wrong tree.

The Easy Way In

Somewhere along the line, liberals decided that the best way to push their view of society would be to add a sacred, almost divine nature to their quest. After all, it is far better to say that your mission is divinely inspired, based on some great and lofty goal. Life becomes so much easier when you add a transcendent hue to your toil, claiming that you are, after all, entitled to your target.

Entitlement is the ultimate affirmative action, tipping the scales in one's favor before the game even starts. In fact, if you really think about it, you realize that most if not all liberal views on most topics can be traced to the notion that certain people deserve certain things, certain treatment, or certain benefits simply based on who they are or what their history is.

Entitlement activists are willing to compete, but on their terms. They have gone from expecting a few points handicap to being given a few extra players to, the way things are going, being simply handed the win because it is so much trouble to actually play an annoying game they feel that they should win anyway. These folks do not find competition entertaining or motivating because they are annoyed that they even have to compete in the first place. Open competition has become a bothersome public relations exercise for them. It is something that they do to look good, to seem as if they have earned something. This is why liberals most often win national elections when the other side messes up. It is difficult to become good at winning when you think wins should be handed to you.

If truth be told, most liberals think that they are entitled to many things most of the time. This is why they find people who disagree with them so annoying. It must be difficult for someone with a divine mission to be called upon to justify or explain that mission to anyone, much less have to persuade mere fools of its divinity.

A Toxic Condiment

Entitlement is sprinkled everything. It spreads like a virus among the groups liberals champion, mixing in with the victimization which they know so well. Thus, women are entitled to this and that because they have been victimized by society and by men for far too long. African-Americans are entitled to this and that because they have been victimized by society and white people for far too long. Illegal aliens are entitled to this and that because they have been victimized by intolerant nativists for far too long.

Entitlement mixed with victimization is a toxic cocktail, making its adherents drunk with excuses, rationalizations, passivity and terminal dependence on tired slogans. If I am entitled to something, if I have a divine right to it, having to fight and struggle for that thing becomes an injustice in and of itself, hence the continuation of the whole injustice/victim chain. Carried to the extreme, by many quite willing to do so, entitlement leads to passivity, resentment and selfish arrogance.

Proof is in The Pudding

I have read accounts of voters who vote for Hillary or Obama because they believe that a woman, or an African-American, is entitled to be president by now. After all, the thinking goes, haven't these groups been victimized by white men for far too long? No need to justify one's experience or qualifications to lead this nation. After all, isn't it time to elect a member of this or that group, regardless of any qualification issues?

Once you believe yourself entitled to something, you tend to be offended by any question as to your qualification to that thing. This explains why many women and African-Americans are so offended when Hillary or Obama's qualifications and background are questioned. Entitlement thus becomes a fast pass to the front of the line which rarely tolerates any question as to its fairness, justification or need.

Entitlement activists seem incapable of grasping one simple truth. That reality is that the true essence of a democratic and free society is the opportunity for, not the guarantee of, success. Life is the ultimate free market system, rewarding those who fight for their goals and serving humble pie to those who delude themselves into thinking that happiness, success or goals are best served on a silver platter.

This is why Hillary does not want to quit. She has convinced herself that she is entitled to be president. She had this nice, neat map to the White House, and reality has not followed her prepared script. Unfortunately for Hillary (and any who think as she does), life is not a pre-packaged speech made to appear spontaneous. Likewise, Obama believes that he is entitled to sell his views, to impose his value system on American society, simply because he views himself as an agent of change.

Our public education system is in shambles because it is steeped in the rhetoric of entitlement. Bullies and lazy students are just as entitled to a good grade as nice, hard-working kids, despite the fact they have not earned it. Public schools are entitled to do as they please, immune to competition from private schools or through vouchers, simply because of what they are. Never mind that coddling lazy or disruptive students is an injustice toward dedicated and well-behaved ones.

Our immigration system is in shambles for the same reason. Illegal aliens are entitled to be treated practically the same as legal immigrants. After all, aren't they just people like everyone else? Never mind that illegal immigration itself is a crime, a violation of our laws. Never mind that the mere act of entering this nation illegally is a mockery of the flag many of these people pretend to give a hoot about.

Our moral system is a joke simply because this society, spurred by a liberal establishment, media and courts, now believes itself entitled to a rubber stamp of morality. Barbara Walters can boast of adultery as if it were a badge of experience. Most liberals will tell you that ultimate salvation is a given and that notions of sin and moral wrong are at best annoying superstitions and at worst dangerous forms of abuse. Never mind that we have lost our sense of right and wrong as a society and now sit drunk in our own soup of moral, social, political and economic entitlement.

Conclusion

Monopolies are considered harmful to society because they create a destructive imbalance in the economic marketplace. Any time you convince yourself that you are entitled to something, you create a monopoly in your mind, in your attitude and in your perspective. There is no room for opposition, for justification, for explanation or for qualification when you feel that your goal or mission's value is a given.

Those who constantly speak of tolerance are most often intolerant with anyone who disagrees with their self-anointed claims of entitlement. If one feels entitled to something, one also tends to feel entitled to resent those who disagree. Likewise, if I feel entitled to something, I tend to view those foolish enough to question that entitlement as annoying, ignorant imbeciles.

Those who constantly speak of equality tend to skew the playing field in favor of their victim group or cause of the month. Their definition of equality is based on the absurd notion that success, happiness, social or moral acceptance and political and economic realization are all givens served without qualification, toil, justification or effort. I should get this simply because I am that, period. Look up reverse discrimination if you need further clarification.

Those who speak of justice spread the injustice which they so passionately purport to fight by handing things to people simply based on what group they belong to without regard to whether or not those people have earned that benefit or that right. Look up amnesty of illegal aliens for further information.

Those who constantly speak of struggles, of freedom marches, of prayer services and of litanies of freedoms and rights resent having to struggle, to explain, to justify or to allow opponents the freedoms and rights they so passionately claim for themselves. Look up their fascinatingly selective application of free speech and assembly.

They talk a big game, but when game time rolls around they want no part of a fair fight, of a good scrap on equal terms. Just look up the Fairness Doctrine.

Anne Richards' keynote address at the 1988 Democratic Convention was highlighted by her lament that then Vice-President George H.W. Bush "was born with a silver foot in his mouth."

Ironically, liberals seem to think that they are born with silver entitlements in theirs.

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