Reply #12: Because they ARE entitlement programs. [View All]

[Lyric]

In government use, "entitlement" means that the government is REQUIRED to pay it. It means that funding for entitlement programs can never be budgeted away idly or directed elsewhere. Those funds HAVE to be paid because the citizens are ENTITLED to them even if it's a financial inconvenience for the government.

There is nothing wrong with the word "entitlement". What's WRONG is that we have allowed (and KEEP allowing) the right-wing morons to redefine good words like entitlement and liberal. Thanks to them, "entitlement" has become a synonym for "welfare", which is even MORE ironic when you consider that welfare is NOT an entitlement program.