The culture of entitlement so pervasive in our society has hit a new low. In the next few months, the Supreme Court of Canada will rule on one of the greatest absurdities to ever disgrace our legal system—the case of Louise Gosselin, who has sued the Quebec government for its “draconian” cuts to welfare.
Her claim rests on the presumption that requiring people under the age of 30—those who, arguably, can be more easily kicked out of the welfare trap—to sign up for job training or education upgrading in order to receive full welfare benefits was a violation of her equality rights protected under the Charter. Oh, the horror. Truly, this is an epic tragedy pitting the downtrodden forces of good against those of remorseless capitalist evil. Imagine her choice: get a job, some skills, or stop ripping off the taxpayers. It’s enough to make you cry.
Or perhaps not. To say her claim is as insulting as it is ridiculous is to merely state the obvious. But it is a tragedy in another sense, for it embodies something seriously wrong with Canada today.
Like lemmings running over a cliff, we’ve charged ahead without stopping to question why. Thoughtlessly, we’ve embraced the preposterous notions that everyone is pretty much alike, and that self-fulfillment is more important than objective achievement. Moreover, a just society is declared to be one far more concerned with succouring its losers than with encouraging its winners to achieve more and thereby benefit
everyone. We have taken President Kennedy’s famous adage and completely bastardized it. Today, we demand the opposite of what he asked of us; we want to know just what our government can do for us and why the hell it
hasn’t already been done. After all, it’s time we each got what we deserved.
And what we deserve seems to have grown exponentially. The list of “entitlements” knows no bounds, as we have ridiculously redefined our economy (in defiance of everyday reality) as a collective possession. Viewed
from the twin pillars of ignorance and idiocy, the myth of a communal splendour rather than simultaneous individual achievements rings true to everyone so inclined to hear it.
Ms. Gosselin and those that support her have obviously demonstrated where they stand. In the months ahead, we can only pray the Supreme Court chooses a higher path.
Brock Jones is a U of T law student. One day, he aspires to be a gate-keeper of that higher path he mentions. (Louise Gosselin is, of course, the key-master.)
