Lessons on Freedom and Patriotism
Lesson No. Twenty

The Entitlement Mentality and the Bondage of Dependency

The Book of Mormon warns against the entitlement mentality and dependency - The Nephites had come to expect and depend on the king (government) to solve their problems.  In other words they had an entitlement mentality.  King Mosiah “told them that these things ought not to be; but that the burden (responsibility) should come upon all the people, that every man might bear his part" (Mosiah 29:34).  

The Entitlement Mentality Results in Dependency and Bondage - One of the most subtle, lest understood, and wide spread threats to freedom is the entitlement mentality which results in the bondage of dependency.  There is a growing tendency in our nation to expect and even demand that the government or parents do what we should do for ourselves.  These concerns are so important and relevant to us that the First Presidency reprinted a sermon in the March 2009 Ensign given by President Marion G. Romney in 1982 entitled The Celestial Nature of Self-Reliance.  The following quotes are from this sermon unless otherwise indicated.  

Government - “The practice of coveting and receiving unearned benefits has now become so fixed in our society that even men of wealth, possessing the means to produce more wealth, are expecting the government to guarantee them a profit.  Elections often depend on what the candidates promise to do for voters from government funds.  This practice, if universally accepted and implemented in any society, will make slaves of its citizens.  We cannot afford to become wards of the government, even if we have a legal right to do so.  It requires too great a sacrifice of self-respect and political, temporal, and spiritual independence.”  

Parents - "Governments are not the only guilty parties. We fear many parents are making [their children dependent] with their permissiveness and their doling out of family resources. In fact, the actions of parents in this area can be more devastating than any government program…..A dole is a dole whatever its source.”

The entitlement mentality, which results in dependency, is a threat to freedom and security – The more dependent a person becomes the less free they are.  Elder Dean Larsen also observed:  "We live in a time when freedom and self-accountability are being bartered for regulation, regimentation, and, programmed security.  The irony in this barter is that the government's ability to provide such security is totally dependent upon the preservation in individual freedom.  Thus, every reduction in freedom diminishes security.” 

The unity and equality the gospel requires is not found by making people equally dependent.  Dependence is bondage and is of the devil. Self-reliance is freedom and is of the Lord.