Definition and Defamation
First, the definition:
An entitlement is a guarantee of access to benefits based on established rights or by legislation....Typically, entitlements are laws based on concepts of principle ("rights") which are themselves based in concepts of social equality or enfranchisement.
Then, the defamation:
Defamation—also called vilification, slander and libel is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, religion, or nation a negative or inferior image. This can be also any disparaging statement made by one person about another.....
The Republicans for decades have used "entitlements" in a negative context, implying that those receiving government aid.....Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, food stamps, welfare, money for education, and money for public works.....are getting something for nothing. That they are unworthy of such aid, are lazy, usually minorities, someone not as intelligent, and REALLY haven't tried hard enough.
"Mitt loves that word "entitlement." He says the President is "the entitlement candidate." It’s a powerful word, because it implies that the President wants to win votes by giving people things they don’t deserve and haven’t paid for... the cosmic American fear of paying for what someone else is getting. The other is racial animosity. Mitt’s audience knows the code, and he knows they know it. Newt Gingrich used it when he talked about the "food stamps President."
"Ironically, his negative use of the word "entitlement" is also an inversion of its legal meaning, which simply denotes a right that can only be taken away by due process... So now if you want to accuse people of taking things they’re aren’t entitled to take, or of offering things they aren’t entitled to offer, you call it an "entitlement." http://open.salon.com/blog/david_green/2012/08/28/republican_vocabulary_the_politics_of_projection
"The president insisted on its insertion into the debt ceiling deal. ... We were put in a position where there was no other choice because the president didn't want to go along with actually beginning to address the real deficit issue, which are health care entitlements." Eric Cantor
I also think it ironic for Mitt Romney to be blathering about entitlements since obviously he believes, because of his privileged background (thanks to his hard working parents) he is entitled to be PRESIDENT. And NOT for any other than to add that to his resume'.
Our "political class" is not only NOT on the same page as the rest of us....they are not even in the same UNIVERSE.
I NEVER thought I'd say this, but read the following from Scott Rasmussen:
"In Social Security and Medicare, voters are not looking for a handout. They are looking for a return on money invested.
For example, those who would like to retire later could pay less in taxes now, while those who would like to retire earlier could pay more in taxes now. That's an investing mindset, not a sense of entitlement.
But politicians in Washington continue to blame the voters for allegedly wanting more government than they are willing to pay for. The effort of politicians to pin the blame on voters diverts attention from the real entitlement mentality that threatens to bankrupt the nation: A political class that feels entitled to rule over the rest of us. Government spending has gone up in every years since 1954 because political leaders have pursued their own agenda rather than listening to voters.
While most voters view excessive government spending as the problem, those who feel entitled to rule over the rest of us see the voters as the problem. And that's the real entitlement crisis facing the nation today. The political class wants to govern like it's 1775, a time when kings were kings and consent of the governed didn't matter."
