This actually made me lose sleep last night, and it's something that's been bothering me for a while.  Since when did (apparently) everything imaginable become a 'right'?  I think I remembering being taught in ELP that there's only a handful of actual factual rights.  The main three, which the others come from, are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (or, for you Lockean purists out there, Life, Liberty, and Property-- but the founding fathers just didn't want to go there).  The others are the rights outlined in the Bill of Rights (makes sense, right?)-- freedom of speech, assembly, religion, press, right to bear arms, habeas corpus, privacy, etc.

I don't remember healthcare being in the either the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence, or in any of the writings of any of the founding fathers.  Or did I miss that class?  Nor do I remember affordable housing as a right.  Nor education.  Nor is voting (look it up and prove me wrong if you can).  These are all privileges, which you must strive to earn.  How do you earn these privileges?  Well, most of them you earn by getting off your butt and working for a living.  I afford my housing by working.  I don't have healthcare, but what little I need I pay for out-of-pocket.  I pay for my education completely out-of-pocket (I don't qualify for Pell grants and work-study barely pays anything and takes time away from my job) and I earn whatever grades I get.  I earn my privilege to vote by being an informed citizen of legal age with no felonies on my record that keep me from voting.

I don't understand this mentality of being entitled to everything just for having a pulse.  This mentality started with my parents' generation (although it's not as pervasive in their generation as it is in mine).  My grandparents are appalled at the thought of being handed everything (I tend to agree-- I dislike charity, and hate the idea of owing anybody anything, which I feel if anyone give me anything).  It especially makes no sense because most of these 'rights' mean the government is meddling in our lives and taking control away from us.  I don't want this, and I don't understand anyone else wanting it either.