What has gotten into you, America?

Entitlement, as defined by Webster, is the act of giving a right to, or furnishing with grounds to a claim. America has become infatuated with entitlement, and that love affair is partially responsible for the financial debacle that we find ourselves in today. Homes that we'll never pay off, cars that cost more than our yearly salary, and lots of bright and shiny things to keep us all entertained. Entitlement afflicts all classes: it could be welfare for the lower class, that brand new electronic savior for the middle class, or maybe some judicial favors for the creme de la creme. It's all around us, and the sad news is that we are entitled to nothing! To be entitled requires "grounds" before the claim is furnished. Quite simply, if you didn't earn it, you aren't entitled to it, and there is no easier target for this logic than welfare.

Within our current welfare system, a noble idea to prevent the poor from starving in the streets has morphed into an economic leper colony. Where once it would have been considered an unbearable humiliation to have to ask the government for financial assistance, it has now devolved into a family business, passed down from generation to generation. This is a legacy that cannot be perpetuated, and one who's solution lies within our own history.

One of the most successful Presidents in our nation's history is undoubtedly Franklin D. Roosevelt. Love him or hate him, the man inherited a nation in shambles and somehow managed to salvage the world's first superpower. Of the many facets of his "new deal," there were brilliant success stories and complete failures, and the tool most worthy of a modern resurrection is the Civilian Conservation Corps.

When I look around at the thousands of people in line for a check from the government, I see thousands of jobs that we're paying people not to do. When we have an infrastructure that is crumbling beneath us, I wonder why we're content paying something for nothing. There may not be private sector jobs out there for everyone that currently relies on welfare; we'll have to come to terms with this in an age of instant communication, international business, and a truly global economy. Until we find the magic bullet to convert the masses of unskilled laborers into a cost effective work force, however, we may as well be getting something for our tax dollars. A revived CCC could set to work building the roads and bridges, constructing the green energy solutions, and wiring the smart grids that will be the arteries of our nations prosperity in a new age. The mutually beneficial outcomes are that an unskilled work force suddenly becomes highly employable, and a product is delivered for the money currently paid into the welfare system.

I refuse to believe that Americans receiving government assistance are lazy, ignorant, or content to be beggars; they are simply well trained on the current system that by design rewards inactivity. Why flip burgers or turn a wrench when you make more money sitting at home? On the same token, why should tax payers continue investing in a stock that isn't paying any dividends? While I understand and appreciate the challenges associated with such a drastic undertaking, I also insist that complex problems can be solved with simple and elegant solutions.