Is There a Difference between an Entitlement and a Right?

Random House Webster’s College Dictionary defines entitlements as:  “the state of being entitled, the right to guaranteed benefits under a government program”.

The term ‘right’ cannot be so narrowly defined since its meaning depends upon the context within which it is used (property ownership, true, direction, opportunity).

But for many in today’s America, the two words are politically synonymous.  An entitlement to government largesse is a right.

It has not always been so.  The Bill of Rights focused on the individual’s right to be protected from the government not to be provided for by it.  Americans prided themselves on their personal independence and frontier spirit.  Our national credo then could be termed “rugged individualism”.

And such, broadly, was the American way until well into the 20^th century.

Government’s role was rather tightly proscribed.  Protect the individual’s right to do.  With the advent of the New Deal, in the 1930s, the political culture changed.  This is illustrated by the popularity of Franklin Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms proclaimed in his 1941 State of the Union speech, one of which “freedom from want”.  The others were traditional freedoms of religion and speech and a vague ‘freedom from fear’.  If the government is to guarantee freedom from want, it can only do so be establishing a right to receive government aid.  And so, a taxpayer-supported safety net became a formally recognized national policy. 

Social Security, established in 1935, became its bedrock.  Private sector workers and their employers are taxed to provide benefits to those who are “entitled” by law.  Social Security payments, accordingly, are fairly described as ‘earned entitlement’ (leave aside the question whether there is a close correlation between payroll taxes paid and benefits received).

Since then, welfare programs such as Medicaid, Aid to Dependent Children and food stamps have also become embedded parts of our established society.  They are properly called ‘unearned entitlements’ stemming from one’s economic condition (i.e. welfare).

Look where we are now:

          *Since 1950, welfare spending, including both State and Federal has risen 2600% (in inflation-adjusted dollars).

          *Exploding Social Security and Medicare expenditures have garnered public attention by climbing about 210% in the past decade.  But welfare costs rose nearly 300%.

So how did we get from there to here? 

                                            [To be continued.]