BETWEEN THE LINES: Most entitlements are not guaranteed by Constitution
A sign purchased at the gift shop at the prison island Alcatraz reads, “Rule No. 5 — You are entitled to food, clothing, shelter and medical attention. Anything else that you get is a privilege.”
The message should serve as a reminder for us not to take life for granted. If the stock market is any indication, our economy has been stalled for more than a decade. The turning point in the 21st century was the collapse of the housing market.
The housing bubble that was co-created by a federal government’s efforts to increase home ownership by the lessening of lending standards and by investors who purchased homes for speculative purposes rather than just satisfying a basic human need, led to the greatest housing collapse in our nation’s history.
The housing crash laid the groundwork for the stock market collapse, which followed a couple of years later. Even reality shows such as “Flip That House” got caught up in the hype.
Real estate proved to be a good investment in the latter half of the 20th century. The explosive number of births after World War II gave rise to a large population of baby boomers who ultimately entered the housing market just as prosperity was in full swing in the early 1980s.
The simple economics of supply and demand took hold and home prices dramatically escalated in the last two decades of the century. But as the law of gravity states, what goes up must come down. And so our nation entered the 21st century looking for nirvana only to find itself in the perfect financial storm.
Those born after World War II did not view housing in the same manner their parents and grandparents did. For them, buying a home was not an investment.
The pendulum is swinging away from luxury to pragmatic utility. Once again the housing market is setting the pace for what the future holds. Another indicator is the declining square footage of new homes, which reached its zenith in 2006 and has been falling ever since.
The operative word in our culture today is entitlement. People have been led to believe it is government’s responsibility to guarantee health care, employment, adequate retirement benefits and a good education — just to name a few. Although those might be noble goals to pursue, they in no manner are rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
As President Abraham Lincoln once noted, “You cannot help men permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.” The end result of entitlement has created our enormous welfare state.
On a side note, our 16th president also stated, “You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.”
Our forefathers were very familiar with the dangers government can pose to its citizens. It is why they created an elaborate system of checks and balances, and minimized government’s role from the very beginning. Laws passed by Congress were to protect our inalienable rights, namely our freedom and personal property. Our personal freedom ends only when it violates someone else’s.
When government looks to help us, one can be assured our rights will be diminished. Although the government’s original intent might have been genuine, the end results of its efforts on our behalf have been detrimental. As I have often stated, government does not create wealth (or jobs for that matter). It merely redistributes revenues as it sees fit, and more often than not stands in the way of real progress.
What government has done at this point is create the illusion of prosperity driven by fiat money, which is inconvertible currency made legal tender by government decree. In the long run, that will come back to haunt us, usually in the form of inflation.
Laughlin is a Christian Libertarian. He is an economist, teacher, father, husband and most recently a grandfather. He has written a weekly column for The Tribune for 12 years. He and his wife Gina reside in Meadowlakes. To contact him, email ablaughlin@nctv.com. He is an independent columnist, not a staff member, and his views do not necessarily reflect those of The Tribune or its parent company.