{"id":15318,"date":"2013-04-30T05:45:42","date_gmt":"2013-04-30T09:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=15318"},"modified":"2013-04-29T19:48:15","modified_gmt":"2013-04-29T23:48:15","slug":"the-collapse-of-entitlement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/04\/the-collapse-of-entitlement\/","title":{"rendered":"The collapse of entitlement?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Robert J. Samuelson sees a shift underway in Americans\u2019 expectations:<\/p>\n

We are passing through something more than a period of disappointing economic growth and increasing political polarization. What\u2019s happening is more powerful: the collapse of \u201centitlement.\u201d By this, I do not mean primarily cuts in specific government benefits, most prominently Social Security, but the demise of a broader mind-set \u2014 attitudes and beliefs \u2014 that, in one form or another, has gripped Americans since the 1960s. The breakdown of these ideas has rattled us psychologically as well as politically and economically.<\/p>\n

In my 1995 book, \u201cThe Good Life and Its Discontents,\u201d I defined entitlement as our expectations \u201cabout the kind of nation we were creating and what that meant for all of us individually\u201d:<\/p>\n

We had a grand vision. We didn\u2019t merely expect things to get better. We expected all social problems to be solved. We expected business cycles, economic insecurity, poverty, and racism to end. We expected almost limitless personal freedom and self-fulfillment. For those who couldn\u2019t live life to its fullest (as a result of old age, disability, or bad luck), we expected a generous social safety net to guarantee decent lives. We blurred the distinction between progress and perfection.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nBill Clinton has a pithier formulation: \u201cIf you work hard and play by the rules, you\u2019ll have the freedom and opportunity to pursue your own dreams.\u201d That\u2019s entitlement. \u201cResponsible\u201d Americans should be able to attain realistic ambitions.\n

No more. Millions of Americans who have \u201cplayed by the rules\u201d are in distress or fear that they might be. In a new Allstate-National Journal survey, 65 percent of respondents said today\u2019s middle class has less \u201cjob and financial security\u201d than their parents\u2019 generation; 52 percent asserted there is less \u201copportunity to get ahead.\u201d The middle class is \u201cmore anxious than aspirational,\u201d concluded the poll\u2019s sponsors. Similarly, the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that only 51 percent of workers are confident they\u2019ll have enough money to retire comfortably, down from 70 percent in 2007.<\/p>\n

Popular national goals remain elusive. Poverty is stubborn. Many schools seem inadequate. The \u201csafety net,\u201d private and public, is besieged. Our expansive notion of entitlement rested on optimistic and, ultimately, unrealistic assumptions.<\/p>\n

Keep reading at Robert Samuelson: The end of entitlement \u2013 The Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is not just a change away from the so-called \u201centitlement mentality,\u201d it is a kind of disillusionment, a new sense that those utopia goals are impossible.\u00a0 Is this altogether a good thing?\u00a0 Is it being too cynical and pessimistic?\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t, say, Ronald Reagan agree with Bill Clinton\u2019s formulation, and shouldn\u2019t we still aspire to that?\u00a0 In fact, don\u2019t Americans, in fact, still have that kind of opportunity?<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert J. Samuelson sees a shift underway in Americans\u2019 expectations: We are passing through something more than a period of disappointing economic growth and increasing political polarization. What\u2019s happening is more powerful: the collapse of \u201centitlement.\u201d By this, I do not mean primarily cuts in specific government benefits, most prominently Social Security, but the demise […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,13],"tags":[1905],"class_list":["post-15318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-america","category-economics","tag-robert-j-samuleson"],"yoast_head":"\nThe collapse of entitlement?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Robert J. 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