What are you entitled to?

“Life, liberty, and the perfuit of happineff.”

Health care

My life.

https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-en/chancellor/basic-law-470510#tar-2

Oral sex

Loyal & dedicated housestaff as is my birthright damn your eyes!

I’m entitled to any services I’ve paid into as a taxpayer. The following is a non-exhaustive list of examples. If my house catches fire, I’m entitled to the fire department coming to put out the fire. I’m entitled to check out a book for free from the public library. I’m entitled to a free K-12 public education along with any children I may have one day. I’m entitled to a discounted college education in my state if I attend a public university. If I take a trip on an airplane, I’m entitled to the security of knowing the aircraft is being properly maintained and inspected and that the flight path is being monitored by professional air traffic controllers. I’m entitled to having the peace-of-mind that when I take a certain medication it’s been vetted for safety and efficacy by the FDA and that rigorous standards are being enforced to ensure purity of the medicine. I’m entitled to live in a home that’s built to standards that guarantee safety from structural collapse and other hazards. Likewise, I’m entitled to walk into any public elevator/escalator/structure and feel confident that the device has been inspected for safety. I’m entitled to my Social Security if I reach the appropriate age and also Medicare. I’m entitled to trade in a regulated stock market that is being patrolled for financial crime abuses. I’m entitled to all of the rights in the US Constitution and in the State of Virginia.

It is a broad question. I think @gorillapaws has a good answer for specifics of things you should be allowed to utilize in your life. GA, by the way sir. But I think the question could also be viewed as what RIGHTS are you guaranteed? And our founding fathers did an good exercise of trying to establish what those rights should be. You have the right to life, freedom, and the right seek happiness. You have the right to pray to whatever God you want or to none if you wish. You have the right to not have the government decide that for you. You have the right to defend yourself and your family and your home.

I actually looked up the definition. It is:

Entitled: Believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.”

With that in mind I have to agree with @seawulf575. Thunder as bodies hit the floor! Break out the smelling salts!

I agree with everything @gorillapaws says, only I’d have to say they are man made rights that our government promised to us. I don’t think any of us are entitled to them. We’re just lucky to live in this country.

@Dutchess_III ”...they are man made rights that our government promised to us. I don’t think any of us are entitled to them.”

We pay for them with our taxes, so we are entitled to them. If you pay for a burger, then you’re entitled to the burger. That doesn’t make you an “entitled” person. Nobody would walk into a restaurant and say “look at all of these entitled people who pay for their meals and demand to be served their food!”

@gorillapaws I think what @Dutchess_III is saying is that man-made rights can be taken away as well as given. For example…I am entitled to Social Security when I retire. It was a law, I paid into it, etc. But if the government decides that Social Security is no longer viable and they want to change it to something else or just do away with it, I would no longer be entitled to it.
As for a hamburger, if you pay for it, you should get it. But how many people each day get the wrong food at a drive thru? It isn’t a guaranteed right…it is an expectation.

@seawulf575 ”...man-made rights can be taken away as well as given.”

What’s an example of a “non-man-made” right that cannot ever be taken away?

^^^ Well, what is an example of a non-man-made right? I don’t think there is such a thing.

You have the right to pursue happiness. That cannot be taken away. People can work to make you unhappy, but you can still seek it. You have the right to free speech. Even in tyrannical dictatorships, that exists…you can always say what is on your mind. You might have consequences as they try to take that from you, but you can still do it.

And I do agree. If you pay for an advertised service you are entitled to that service.
But the problem with the government and taxes is we don’t get to choose which programs our taxes go to. We don’t get to choose Universal Health Care, even if we’re willing to pay more in taxes.
We don’t get to choose to have our taxes not go to a service that we don’t use (a childless couple, for example, still has to pay for public schools.)

@seawulf575 “Even in tyrannical dictatorships, that exists…you can always say what is on your mind. You might have consequences as they try to take that from you, but you can still do it.”

I would hardly call that a “freedom of speech,” if you’re executed when you speak your mind. That’s like saying we all have the “freedom of infinite wealth by theft,” despite having consequences if we’re caught stealing…

@Dutchess_III _”...we don’t get to choose which programs our taxes go to.”

Sure we do. That’s what elections are for. We may not get to decide on each policy one-by-one, but in a representative democracy, the people decide the priorities through their elected officials.

Right. I agree.

My Life
My freedom to make my own choices
What I can reasonably do in a social context to be happy without somebody else stopping me.

I wonder why people think it is all so complicated.

Equal protection under the law

I am entitled to that which I earn, as well as the rights and protections bestowed on each of us Americans by the Constitution.

Actually, not a damn thing. If I want something I go after it. If I fight a good fight and get what I want it’s mine.