Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by GogoVicMorrow
Why not fix the social and economic issues that create the welfare state in the first place, instead of just drug testing?
Entitlement: Having a right to ‘something’. Is entitlement parallel to greed?
We are certainly using this word in a narrow sense – i.e. people collecting benefits have an ‘entitlement’ mentality.
Well, there is another side of this as well. Society has an entitlement expectation of those who are poor – they should flip burgers, be janitors,
and whatever other jobs of servitude that are expected of these people. We think we are entitled to the servitudes of others. Is this right? Is it
correct, moral and ethical? I have my doubts about that especially when that servitude is generally for the profit of others and does not guarantee
that people will be better off because they flip burgers. Should they give up raising their families to be at the whim of any corporate endeavors?
The corporations are ‘entitled’ to this labor after all, are they not? Entitlement- there are more sides to it than the continual negative stigma
that is thrust upon those in poor positions.
The so-called industrial revolution has done a fine job of breaking up families by having both parents first to work to support the country during a
time of war, but now it is common to think that both parents might need to work. I personally believe we as a society have largely grown to expect
that.
Then, we wonder why kids do not have the parenting that they REALLY need to be good members of society. We only ‘like’ to give this
‘entitlement’ to single mothers, and give even more when they have more children – further dividing the family by making sure the father figure
is not included, what is that about?
Can children be raised properly while both parents work? Sure, but there is some detraction of the parental guidance, and it’s inevitable and
consequential. I remember many times giving up seeing my son’s football games because the company I worked for had projects come up that just had to
be done – family be damned no matter what their corporate mantra was. Where do you draw the line? 50 hours? 60 hours? For my particular
circumstance, I believe it was 72. When you work 72 hours a week, believe me that leaves little time for anything other than eat, sleep, and work.
Labor laws ‘entitle’ my employer to this. I loved my job, and always made personal efforts beyond the norm to make sure it was done well. Damn you
Horatio Alger.
I do totally agree there are severe instances of abuse of the system by those receiving ‘entitlements’ – nothing grinds my gears quite like
seeing people with cartloads of food, paying with their ‘entitlements’ and then going out of the store and hopping into their Escalades.
As usual, a program such as this seems shortsighted and does not appear to address root causes of behavioral issues, and really, are a bunch of
indigenous people in South America responsible for flooding this country with cocaine? Are the poor responsible for synthesizing all these fancy
chemicals and bringing it to the masses? Some may be, since such knowledge has homogenized amongst certain groups, but I suspect the roots of such
activity are in the ‘entitlement’ mentality – I am entitled to as much money as I can get. Entitlement aka greed if you will.
All men being created equal…except we are all born with societal ascriptions –born into poverty, born into luxury and so forth. To expect people
to be able to live outside those ascriptions is IMO a pretty tall order. Social programs AFAIK, are in general, not known for their success and this
drug testing is to me, a social program.
Entitlements – I think this word has parallels with greed, and greed is by no means a term that strictly applies to the poor.
I'm afraid our legislators are probably smart enough to beat the tests.
