[quote=Djshakes]Eavesdropper: This a matter of the chicken and the egg. Has the government created an entitled dependent society or does the society truly need the government. I would like to think it falls in the middle.[/quote]

That’s a tough one, Dj. Like you, I would prefer the truth to lie somewhere in the middle. But I confess to leaning in the direction of the fault lying largely with the government. Not that I favor people readily accepting aid they don’t truly deserve, or opting to take the easier way out, but it is a normal human instinct (animal, too, come to think of it).

The current entitlement programs were largely created or had their benefits vastly expanded during a time of unprecedented sociological change that, I believe, provided a fertile breeding ground for exponential growth of the rolls, and an accompanying change in attitude by the citizenry. As for the government, almost every large entitlement program becomes a proverbial “third rail” once it passes into law. There are almost no candidates, of any party affiliation, that will dare to touch it during their tenure in office.

There have been some interesting studies dealing with self-reporting of disability as it relates to physical health over the past decade. Baby boomers, the first generation to be concerned with self-image and physical fitness, and fortunate beneficiaries of incredible biomedical advances, have been reporting significantly higher rates of conditions they term as disabling in their 50s than cohorts 30 years older. The epidemiology is not complete, but I’m looking forward to reading the literature when they come up with the reasons for the discrepancy.

I’m not a Boomer basher. Just a Boomer. Non-disabled variety, I’m grateful to say.