"Write about what a bunch of whiners you all are," one of my professors advised me. "Your generation needs a good kick in the pants." What this professor was telling me was certainly not something I hadn't heard before. My last employer, at the ripe old age of 34, informed me, "What you kids need is a good war to make you more appreciative." Even my grandmother rolls her eyes when I begin to lament about my lack of clothes, a car or the latest CD. Yet she continues to take handfuls of straws and napkins from McDonald's even though I have repeatedly reminded her that we are no longer living in the Great Depression.
But I will have to admit they are right. "Our generation," the children of the baby boomers, do have a marked tendency to whine. We come to expect we will maintain or increase the standard of living we knew as children. And if we desire something, we expect to receive it -- immediately.
But who can blame us? We have grown up in the culture of entitlement. Our tendency to whine is not a trait exclusive to our generation. We follow the example of our parents, who were the driving force behind the 1980s, better known as the "me" decade. We follow the example of popular culture. Sharon Shone still hasn't returned those Harry Winston diamonds that were loaned to her for the Academy Awards. We follow the example of government. Who can forget the scandals of the congressional check-writing incident?
Our whole society operates on the premise that we have the right to receive certain benefits regardless of whether or not we have earned them. This attitude may not be harmful in some areas of society, such as the entertainment industry. But this culture of entitlement has seriously harmed our nation with respect to its government and politics.
What began as temporary programs to relieve the starvation and destitution caused by the Great Depression -- social security, Medicare, welfare -- have been adopted as part of the culture of entitlement. We no longer consider these programs privileges, but rather, rights.
The programs will begin to go bankrupt in the next decade. If we continue to fund them, we will not maintain the standard of living we enjoy today. But the 1980s are over and the reality of the 1990s is upon us. We are a nation that has mortgaged itself to the hilt. Unless we begin to make difficult decisions and severely curtail government spending, we will face a future not unlike the 1930s, a time which remains in the memories of few individuals in today's society.
At Montgomery Fellow Richard Lamm's lecture on the aging population, the former Colorado governor painted a very bleak picture of America's fiscal future.
The audience, seemingly enthralled by his prophesying, yearned to help him out. A woman in the back shouted, "Richard, how can we change the political system to stop voters from supporting candidates who do not want to face the fiscal crisis?" Lamm could only reply that he did not know. While things such as campaign reform would help, on the whole, he was quite pessimistic about our future. There was no mention of the Republican effort to balance the budget, but that was not too surprising. A brave soul in the back row interjected despite the audience's apparent desire to reform our spending habits, "everyone would do their best to make sure that their family would not be affected."
The dissenter hit the nail on the head. In theory, we are all committed to fiscal responsibility. Polls show we approve of the Republican's progress in Congress. We all want to "provide for the next generation." Take away our social security -- are you kidding? Lamm probably considers himself a revolutionary. He might have been 10 years ago. But the debate is no longer about whether we should balance the budget. It is about where and when. And unlike the woman in the back suggested, the obstacle we face is not the political system, but rather ourselves.
We must relinquish our belief that the government owes us a debt which we are entitled to collect in the form of Medicare, social security or student loans. There does seem to be more of a public willingness to support measures of fiscal responsibility. But unless we make a commitment on both the societal and personal levels, we will accomplish little.
No one is looking over our shoulders when we enter the election booth and have to choose who will represent our decisions and opinions in Washington. It is quite a lot to ask people to stop shifting blame, tighten their belts and sacrifice. It is something else to ask them not to whine about it. What you are really requesting is the end of the culture of entitlement.
