Gimme.
If there is an overriding motto this country seems to have adopted — from those who beg for coins on the street, to those who find it more convenient to work the system than find a job, to those who mismanage huge corporations to the brink of bankruptcy — that single word captures them all.
And when we put our hands over our hearts to say “I pledge allegiance, to the flag of the United States of America …,” we might as well continue by saying “… and to the entitlement for which it stands: One nation under the rule of zealots and billionaires, always divisible, with bailouts for some and injustice for most.”
This country can’t handle an immigration problem that has mushroomed over the past few decades because it costs too much — both in the deportation process and the potential lost cheap labor.
This country can’t find a way to see that every legal resident has some form of satisfactory, affordable health insurance because it costs too much.
This country can’t find alternative sources of fuel because it costs too much.
This country can’t balance a budget.
This country can’t keep its infrastructure safe.
This country can’t hire enough law enforcement officers, nurses, firefighters and teachers.
Can’t, can’t, can’t.
But what this country can do is give $700 billion to insurance and financial institutions led by CEOs and others who lined their pockets with hefty salaries and bonuses despite the fact that their management skills guided their companies into a sea of red.
Not only that, but the early trick-or-treat money giveaway also included a little chocolate nugget for rum producers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, toy wooden arrow makers, wool research and as many as — by one estimate — 2,319 other pet projects sought by lawmakers for their home districts and states. All of that for a nice little price tag of $6.6 billion. We all know who got the treat and who was tricked.
Proud to be an American? Fine, but it’s hard to have any confidence in those who lead this country — or those we’ve heard from who want to lead it, quite frankly.
Where did all this start?
There have been thousands of theories on that. Every news network has given us the breakdown. The internet and blogs are full of analysis and opinions. But not one of them goes back far enough.
When Carl Stotz came up with the idea for Little League baseball while playing catch with his nephews in Williamsport, Pa., in 1938, one of the first rules he wrote down was that everyone would play. That sense of inclusion, opportunity and fairness was one of the ideals that attracted so many youngsters from the beginning.
But many years later, the corporation of Little League Baseball shoved Stotz aside and began injecting its own set of rules — one of which succumbed to the growing 1970s pressure from “feel-good” groups that said anyone who participates in something should be given something as a reward. That all but spelled the end of special certificates or trophies to team MVPs or most-improved players. If one received a trophy, everyone had to — from the ever-present child who always paid attention and worked hard to the right-fielder who would rather chase butterflies than fly balls.
This is where I think our problem really started.
And it’s not only in youth sports where we see that the incentives for extra effort, hard work and following the rules have been diluted and, in many cases, stripped away.
When a second-grader can throw a fit because a classmate earned a reward for doing well, literally telling the teacher that if one student gets a treat then they all should … well, there’s a serious problem there.
But that’s the message our children have been getting for decades now. It’s not how they play the game; it’s not how hard they work; it’s not how they act toward others. Instead, it’s become all about entitlement. Just sign up, do as little as possible and expect the rewards.
The second-grader got her piece of candy. In 30 years, she should be able to expect a bailout.
Gimme, gimme, gimme.
W. Curt Vincent can be reached at 810-862-4163cvincent@www.bladenjournal.com.