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Letter: GOP is big fan of entitlements

Friday, Dec. 3, 2004 | 6:18 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

December 4 - 5, 2004

Thanks to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and his buddies, I now know the real meaning of entitlement.

I used to think of it as a dirty word infiltrating political jargon, one that was used to blacklist social programs such as Welfare, Social Security and Medicare. Purveyors of the do-it-yourself philosophy hoped that calling such programs "entitlements," whether it was true or not, would downgrade their status to freebies and portray their participants as beggars demanding something neither paid for nor deserved.

But DeLay has enlightened me.

Now I know that entitlement means the use of power and privilege for unethical purposes, and the gall to change the law to avoid responsibility and prosecution.

Bravo, Mr. DeLay. You're a real role model and a true purveyor of entitlement!

LUCY SAROYAN

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