"Rights" That Are Wrong

Dennis Prager's column on the welfare state sums it up perfectly!

"The welfare state enables — and thereby produces — people whose preoccupations become more and more self-centered as time goes on:
How many benefits will I receive from the state?
How much will the state pay for my education?
How much will the state pay for my health care and retirement?
What is the youngest age at which I can retire?
How much vacation time can I get each year?
How many days can I call in sick and get paid?
How many months can I claim paternity- or maternity-care money?
The list gets longer with each election of a left-wing party. And each entitlement becomes a 'right,' as the Left transforms entitlements into the language of 'rights' as quickly as possible.
What handouts do, and what the transformation of handouts into rights does, is create a citizenry that increasingly lacks the most important character trait — gratitude. Of all the characteristics needed for both a happy and morally decent life, none surpasses gratitude. Grateful people are happier, and grateful people are more morally decent. That is why we teach our children to say 'thank you.' But the welfare state undoes that. One does not express thanks for a right. So, instead of 'thank you,' the citizen of the welfare state is taught to say, 'What more can I get?'"