A READER, Bill W., at VFR also writes:

  …. [T]he forced nature of the welfare state colors everything. This form of “charity,” rather than really helping people, creates dependence, undermines thrift and hard work, and destroys people spiritually, both by undermining what is good, and also by creating a sense of wounded, resentful expectation–the idea that the world owes them something. I’m a doctor. And having worked with Medicaid patients in emergency rooms before, I can tell you that they are far more demanding, suspicious, complaining and overall “entitled” than any other group.

Forgot to bring a list of the medications you take to the ER at 3 a.m.? “No one told me I had to do that, and no one gave me no list.”

Oh, you missed your follow up appointment after your surgery? “Well no one couldn’t give me no ride, and no one called me to remind me anyhow.”

Do you mind if one of our medical students talks with your first? “Oh no! Don’t be trying to put no student on me! I wanna see the best doctor in here, and tell him he needs to come NOW.”

It goes on and on. I’ve also seen the opposite–real charity work. My father, who is an ophthalmologist, worked for several years in Papau New Guinea, where simple cataracts remain the leading cause of blindness. After a surgical follow-up appointment where he examined around twenty eyes, all of whom had had cataract surgery, they were all sitting on a long bench in his clinic as he went person-to-person, assembly line style. As he took the bandages off of each person, he could tell instantly if the surgery had worked well–they started smiling. On more than one occasion, the patients would begin singing, in Pidgin, “Jesus open-em ai belong mi” (Jesus opened my eyes). And there was a real graciousness, a sense of warmth and wonder, which permeated the room. I’ve never seen anything like it from the poor in the U.S., and I think that the difference lies in the nature of the act. When one person, realizing that God has blessed him deeply, tries to share the blessing, the inner motivation behind the action is obvious, and there is real relationship there. But when a state, a bureaucracy, tries to accomplish the same, it breeds resentment. The money, or time, or resources may be equivalent, but the nature of the act is different–it’s not a blessing being shared, but an obligation (perceived) that is being carried out, and only then by force. So the recipient, seeing that “his rights” are being only incompletely restored to him reacts with resentment, and the “payer” (all the rest of us) react with resentment because deep down we know we’re being stolen from.

And of course it’s deeply ironic, that those who most decry anyone forcing their beliefs on another, do precisely the same by voting to maintain the welfare state, and in so doing make the problem worse, and breed resentments, hatreds and class warfare as well.

                                                                            — Comments —

Mabel Le Beau writes:

I’m not sure the issue the E.R. physician explains is related to a ‘welfare state.’ Retail pharmacists often bemoan ingratitude displayed by those who want their scripts, and they want it now, and they want it for free. Never mind any service a pharmacist performs in providing an accurately filled and appropriate prescription.

The examples that the E.R. physician provides may be related to a sense of entitlement, common loutish behavior, or a phenomenon of some sort of helplessness that a patient might experience in having to use the E.R. for medical treatment. If the issue is entitlement, physicians, as well as pharmacists are as liable as anyone to display a sense of ‘I deserve this’ because of … . Some of the rudest encounters I’ve experienced in my life were with physicians that ‘expected’ services because of a sense of entitlement. In that case, entitlement essentially boils down to boorish behavior.

I could be wrong, but am inclined to believe the real issue the E.R. physician describes is associated with both individual patient attitudes and awarding health care benefits.

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