In his book, ‘Leviathan,” it was Thomas Hobbs that wrote that in the state of nature, man is entitled to everything. He or she is not only entitled to his or her own property and possessions, but also to the property and possessions of others. To some in this society, this kind of reasoning is a sacrilege and an abomination to civilized and human norms. However, when one survey’s the environment and the politicians not only in Washington, D.C. but around the globe, there is no question that Hobbs’ philosophy is followed down to the last letter.
Many politicians have this belief that they can literally have their cake and eat it too. They believe they are entitled to tax monies in the treasuries for their own uses and projects; they are entitled to the profits that individual businesses and people make off the sweat of their brows; that they are entitled to draft and pass legislation and laws imposing their ideas of morality and virtue upon their societies, while exempting themselves from those laws; that they believe that they are entitled to nothing but the best because of the offices and positions that they hold; that they believe that they have entitled to other human beings for their own pleasure and fulfillment; and that they are entitled to all of this because they are above mere mortals.
Dominique Strauss Kahn, former head of the International Monetary Fund, followed this philosophy to the “T,” and now is facing rape and sodomy charges in New York City. New York Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner believed that he was entitled to act in any manner he pleased with women and others on the internet, and now his party is asking him to resign; Silvio Berlusconi, prime minister of Italy, believed that because of his wealth and his position he was entitled to act recklessly, also with young women; now he is facing a corruption trial. Then there are Republicans and Democrats like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Christopher Lee, Mark Sanford, Jim McGreevey, Eliot Spitzer, Larry Craig and others that believed that they were entitled to do the same thing, and now their political careers have ended in disgrace.
The entitlement culture, and those who have chosen to follow it, can be a hazard to one’s health, being, reputation and soul. The people that I have described are now punch lines for late night comics and are looked at with scorn by the people at large. They are now paying or about to pay the piper. They have eaten or about to eat that which they have never eaten before: humble pie. The severing is not at all pleasant and it will not go down easy to the stomach, but this is the price they pay for disgracing their offices and believing that their manure did not stink