The word entitlement can mean different things depending on how we think about that word. For some an entitlement is a belief that there are certain moral aspects of life for which every human has a claim. Among such entitlements are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It might also be argued that equal opportunity and justice are also natural entitlements. Some people see the word entitlement as an expectation, a of feeling of being owed something without merit. Philosophers have grappled with the distribution of rights from the beginning of time.
One idea is utilitarian. It suggest that rights should be distributed in a manner that provides the greatest good to the greatest number of individuals. Another concept is unbiased capitalism which presumes that what people need will naturally trickle down to them if simply left to the ingenuity and hard wokd of humankind. A more recent study of justice insists that innate biases tend to insure that some people are perennially left out. It suggests that since everyone is entitled to certain concepts of moral fairness we must often be ready to engineer a process that takes into account those least likely to achieve that same goals as everyone else due to circumstances beyond their control.
Imagine a race for justice in which the wealthiest and most influential among us are given a head start of several laps. There might be some souls with incredible natural talents who have a chance catch up with them through great effort, but it is unlikely that they would do more than come close. Then consider someone with physical handicaps struggling to keep apace and others who were not even aware that justice was only available by placing in a race. An individual’s circumstances due to lack of money or influence or physical acuity make them less and less likely to arrive at the finish line while the “goodies’ are still available, the level of justice that they would earn would be dangerously low even if it existed at all. A better way of doing things would be to insure that even the most downtrodden among finds a reserve of justice waiting for them when their circumstances impede their ability to run for their lives.
Entitlement is a basic right, not an attitude. We may be created equal but the truth is that where, when and into which family we are born will be a great determining factor in how well we enjoy that equality.
I began my life in a democratic republic with intelligent and loving parents who provided well for me. I inherited their genetic abilities to learn easily and their good health that provided the energy that I needed to grow and prosper in the world. When my father died some of my advantage crumbled. Money was no longer as abundant in propelling me forward to my future. My family’s needs sometimes overwhelmed my own hard work. It was as though I had lost momentum in the race of life with a major stumble that pushed me farther and farther behind. Still, simply by nature of my good fortune of being in the right place at the right time I have been able to live a mostly decent life. I have enjoyed enough access to human entitlements to feel that life has been fair for me even if making it so took more effort on my part.
As a teacher I encountered young people whose circumstances were so dire that it was difficult to watch their struggles. It sometimes felt as though an invisible hand was blocking them from even moving from the starting line. They were born with innumerable handicaps that would make their own races seem painfully hopeless. One aspect of justice for them involved providing them with education and sometimes the only meals they would eat each day. I watched some of them grow stronger and more and more able to continue in the race, but there were others who were so bombarded with difficulties that I worried that they might never move from the challenges that held them back.
We might be inclined to believe that every person has an equal chance of reaching the finish line in a wealthy country like our own but we all know that even here there is a certain level of unfairness that awards the wealthiest and most mentally and physically fit before those who lack such advantages. Sometimes even ignorance of how things work can impede people for all of their lives, leaving them wondering why they work so hard but never seem to get ahead. Society is complex and regardless of how free and it is and how many opportunities there are a stratification of influence tends to insure that some people get all that they need and others are left struggling to survive. Unless we work to insure that everyone has what we all should be entitled to have, our system still has room to improve.
There are no utopian places anywhere on this earth. Some are particularly horrific and others do their best to fairly distribute the rights of humans. It is still a work in progress. We know that taking away incentives by simply distributing things equally has never worked just as relying on democracy alone to take all people into account can leave much suffering. There are times when we know that we have to provide for people who are unable to provide for themselves for whatever reason. We should each be willing to contribute in ways proportionate to our wealth, influence and natural abilities. Nobody should be so far ahead that the race is rigged in their favor. At the same time nobody should be so far back that they have no chance to win. We know what is fair and what is not. If we cooperate in distributing the universal entitlements that we all should have we can still have room for a fair competition in which some get the prize but everyone feels that they have won. We are all entitled to life, liberty, happiness, and a fair shot at enjoying those things.
All It Takes Is A Little Love 