In Canada's last federal election we learned a new catch-phrase: "entitlement." Justice Gomery gave the word life by referring to the "sense of entitlement" which allowed politicians and their consultant pals to dip into the public purse as if it was their private stash.

Entitlement, let's be clear, means not that anyone's a crook, but that they believe they have every right to do what they're doing. In the Land of Entitlement no one is a crook, complainer, or lazy bum; everyone's entitled to their foible.

There is such a land of entitlement. It's Canada.

Forget the Liberals-they've paid their dues on that one-we are all claiming entitlements.

We smoke. Who cares if it bothers or sickens nearby people; who cares if it costs everyone to hospitalize the smokers dying of lung disease? Smokers are entitled to smoke.

Recycling? Can't be bothered separating the garbage from recyclables? And composting -- forget it -- it's a bother to separate all this stuff. We're entitled to take life easy.

Eating, we have a sense of entitlement to eat whatever junk food we wish, all the sugar and fat, no matter its effect on our health or on costs to society dealing with people suffering from nutrition-based illnesses.

We have a sense of entitlement to drink as much as we want, to litter when we feel like it, and to run up credit and max out our charge cards.

We are entitled to super health care, with no waiting, because we are who we are, even if we do little for our own health. Doing the right thing is too uncomfortable.

We are entitled to have our kids educated perfectly, even if we don't help them with homework or stay involved in their lives.

We are entitled to good highways, sidewalks, and plenty of bridges, even if we vote for lower taxes.

We're entitled to unbiased news, even if we don't read a newspaper and only manage the ten-second news bites on TV.

We're entitled to high-paying jobs, even if we didn't stay in school, entitled to four-week vacations, entitled to a giant house on good farmland, entitled to drive gas-guzzlers, entitled to burn leaves, entitled to instant gratification and good sex, entitled to . . . you get the point.

The insidiousness of this is the other side of entitlement--it means we have no responsibilities.

We're entitled; we're not required to work hard, be honest, save up, pay our share, defer pleasures, or take care of the planet. The only ones who do have responsibilites are "the government," "the health system," "the schools" -- everyone, in short, except us. We've got other things to do.

It's as if the government is someone other than us, as if our schools came from another planet, and as if our health has nothing to do with our life-styles and diets.

What is it, again, that entitles us to all this?

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Copyright © 2007 Fred Ryan/Log Cabin Chronicles/05.07