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“Culture eats strategy for breakfast” - Anonymous
When my daughter was 8, she had a pattern of missing the school bus. Although the bus stop was one block away, she needed constant reminders and yet she was often so late that either my wife or I needed to drive her to school to arrive on time.
One day we threatened to refuse to drive her because our frustration had reached a peak. She started crying. She felt entitled to be driven to school. Our daughter had failed to be fully responsible, and she became dependent upon our patience. We wanted her to be at school on time, yet she needed to learn to take responsibility.
We agreed to take her to school one more time if she agreed to create a process to catch the bus on time. That evening we created a new process with her (which she agreed to follow) and from then on, she caught the bus. She took responsibility with our guidance and encouragement. We broke the cycle of dependence and entitlement and helped her become self-sufficient.
Entitlement is a sense of deservedness. The entitled may even have a narcissistic personality disorder. Entitlement is a feeling of being owed a favor when little or nothing has been done to deserve special treatment. It’s the “you owe me” attitude.
An attitude of entitlement creates serious damage. We must therefore answer these questions:
Is America an entitled culture?
The data shows America has evolved into an entitlement culture.
At the beginning of the 20th century (1900’s) entitlement spending was at 0.4 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). President Roosevelt’s New Deal more than tripled that to 1.5 percent of GDP. In 2024, it was a total of 17.8 percent of GDP. This is a 4,350 percent increase.
In the same period, as a share of government total spending, entitlements were about 5 percent of total. In 2024 it was 44.9 percent of total government spending. That calculates to a 798 percent increase.
How did the entitlement culture happen?
Politicians in both parties claimed they wanted to alleviate poverty and suffering. They said they wanted to provide opportunities for upward mobility for those who were struggling. Using taxpayer money, they made the case for welfare programs.
In 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the war on poverty.
“This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America.” (Rector, 2015)
After 60 years and $22 trillion in spending, the percentage of people living in poverty is still 15%, the same as it was in 1966. Self-sufficiency (no outside help needed) was the goal. It improved for a short time and then started to slow in 1970. It then worsened in the four decades afterward. These policies increased dependency on government. It therefore increased entitlement. There was a gap in policy and process that failed to encourage and failed to measure movement from dependency to self-sufficiency.
Could the politicians be expecting those dependents to continuously vote them into office? Are the politicians’ incentives keeping people dependent to ensure their reelection?
Thirty years ago President Bill Clinton and a Republican Congress instituted work for welfare requirements which did both encourage self-sufficiency and measures of success. The left predicted death of tens of thousands back then and the left is predicting the same horror today about the Big Beautiful Bill because there are provisions in it similar to the Clinton legislation.
The Clinton legislation cut poverty and dependence in half. Why wouldn’t the same be true today with the Big Beautiful Bill? Why would the left create fear claiming deaths and destruction with these two legislations? Could it be they want dependency? Could it be feelings of entitlement can help leftist politicians to be reelected?
What damage does entitlement cause?
Milton Freidman explains there are only 4 priorities for government.
When the government takes on additional responsibilities such as alleviating poverty and suffering, our national debt can explode. Our current national debt is over $36 trillion. We have gotten to this level of debt by allowing the government to take responsibilities not delineated in either the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. This causes us to grow the national debt and steal wealth from our grandchildren’s future. Stealing from our grandchildren is a consequence of increasing the entitlement mindset. We are spending more than we earn because our government is attempting to do more than they should. This is theft and theft is a sin and is evil.
Being dependent on government welfare steals responsibility from those who must learn to be self-sufficient. Just as my daughter needed to learn to catch the bus, those who are encouraged to be dependent on government to survive must still be encouraged to be personally responsible. Can anyone be truly happy when they are dependent upon others yet have the capacity to be self-sufficient? Entitlement and dependency steal accomplishment and happiness.
Another sad outcome of entitlement is damaged interpersonal relationships. The feelings of superiority and deservedness blocks one from feeling and expressing gratitude. This self-absorbed attitude blocks the ability to express empathy for others. Their expectation of preferential treatment can create anger and resentment. Both of those attitudes will disgust others and prevent healthy relationships.
Entitlement and dependency can create codependent relationships. The relationship between the entitled voters and the politicians who continuously support their dependency are likely interested in only their best interests (continuously being reelected). A codependent relationship has someone who is controlling (politician) and someone who is controlled (dependent voter). Are politicians sincere about their concern for the dependent voters or are they concerned about their own political survival?
The entitled often demonstrate scorn for rules which, in their view, shouldn’t apply to them. Looting is a demonstration that “rules don’t apply to me, and I am entitled to steal these items without consequence”. During the Los Angeles riots in 2025, business owners reported a spike in looting. During the George Floyd protests looting was also widespread.
Another casualty of entitlement and dependence on government is the growth of income inequality. From 1980 to 2020, the top 10% of earners share of income has grown from approximately 35% to 45%.
How can we reverse the evil trend?
Identifying and voting for politicians who understand the difference between dependency and personal responsibility can begin reverse the culture of entitlement. Supporting dependency is easy for politicians. They use taxpayer money to bride the entitled. This works because there is a certain percentage of the population that wants to be cared for by the government and avoid personal responsibility.
However, a courageous politician will tell the truth and promote an environment where the voters can become self-sufficient. Just as my wife and I helped Emily to catch the bus on her own. Politicians can promote policies that encourage self-sufficiency and avoid dependence. Politicians who care about both the long-term health of the voters and country are the ones we must elect.
Our founders were wise enough to realize the Constitution may need to be amended from time to time to keep the country healthy and successful. As Mark Levin explains in his book The Liberty Amendments, the country has moved away from its original constitutional order and that order needs to be restored. In the past 236 years since our Constitution was adopted, it’s been amended 27 times. Amending the Constitution on critical issues is one way to avoid growth, or even shrink, entitlements and voter dependency.
The Convention of States (COS) initiative uses Article V to amend our Constitution. COS focus on only three main themes for improvement. These three themes have been identified to create long-term positive change.
Summary:
American has an entitlement culture and it’s harmful to both the individuals and the country. We must elect courageous politicians who both understand the harm and are willing to speak up and take a stand for self-sufficiency in the face of those growing population of voters who think they are entitled and who think there is such a thing as a free lunch.
We can also support the Convention of States to amend the Constitution for long-term permanent solutions to the entitlement culture. We must act to reverse this damaging culture. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Culture will either help us improve or contribute to our destruction.
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A very important issue that very few point out- ty!