GOP Senator Calls Veteran’s Care ‘Entitlement’ We ‘Can’t Afford’

[D Gary Grady]

64. "Entitlement" doesn't mean giveaway!

I paid Social Security and Medicare taxes for the requisite amount of time and I served in the Navy. That means I have a legal right to Social Security, Medicare, and some veterans' benefits. They're not charity or welfare. Like everyone else in my position, I earned the right to them fair and square. In short, I'm entitled to them.

Go back and re-read that last sentence. That's what makes them an "entitlement," by definition.

Please don't buy in to the right-wing meme that an "entitlement" means "giveaway." It doesn't. It's something people are entitled to as a matter of law. The GOP loves to pretend otherwise, so when they talk about "entitlement reform" a lot of voters won't realize they're going after Social Security, Medicare, veterans' benefits, and the like.