The coming of fall signals a time of harvest. Long before the time of this harvest, a seed was planted, a hybrid seed formed from both a sense of entitlement and a mindset of discontent. The result of this planting is the fruit of “class warfare.”

In New York City and in other parts of the country, crowds of angry people have come together to protest the wealth of others. These folks seem to have been stirred up by the current administration’s mantra of the need for the wealthy to pay their fair share.

One has to wonder how many of these intrepid protesters are enjoying their right to peacefully assemble while at the same time receiving some form of government stipend. It is sad to hear them declare the unfairness of a system that rewards investment and effort while ignoring the fact that all the entitlements are possible because of the taxes that are collected from the wealth generated by these risk takers.

There is a form of wealth redistribution that has proven to work. It’s a mystery that takes some effort on the part of the one seeking the money, but it can be done. Here’s the secret: Get a job, do an honest day’s work and get an honest day’s pay. Simple yet effective.

I know that now is one of the worst times that have ever been to be out of work. We should do all we can to help those in need, but taking from those that have to give to those that are doing nothing to earn what they receive is a recipe for long-term hardship. If we let the mindset of entitlement fester and fail to take the necessary steps to bring jobs back to this country and restore the sense of honor in having earned a day’s wages, I fear we will have lost the best part of who we are.

We should be quick to help those in need but getting a handout from the government (taxpayers) should never be a respected career path. The rhetoric that is moving us toward class warfare by pitting the wealthy against those who desire to gain what the wealthy have by government intervention is only exchanging one form of greed for another — the greed of some who have offshore jobs for profit without consideration of the consequences to hardworking Americans, for the greed of wanting to get something for nothing. We as a people must lift ourselves above hurt and retribution; we must make the right decisions in spite of the goading by self-interested parties on either side.

If we succumb to the proddings of President Barack Obama and his administration and fall into class warfare, we will accomplish nothing but the abdication of the determination of our destiny to others. He will reap what he has sown but we, and our children, will be forced to eat at his table. God help us all if it comes to that.

Eddy McEntire
Cleveland