Entitlement in America: A hindrance to the culture

How is the engrained idea of entitlement a hindrance to American culture?

My basic premise here is that the often extraordinary amount of time people spend on “keeping up with the Joneses” might be better spent doing other things. As I said before, in no way am I promoting an ascetic lifestyle. Even I like shopping — seemingly more than my wife, who would rather read a book.

If people spent some, or most, of the time they now spend as materialistic consumers on other activities, imagine what the world might be like:

• More money given to charity, possibly alleviating hunger and disease around the world.

• More time spent on research for curing disease.

• More time spent on the creation of and enjoyment of the arts.

• Better relationships, possibly less divorce.

These, of course, are hypotheses. They may or may not actually occur under a variety of other circumstances. I, for one, believe American culture would be better off without consumerism and this unconscious philosophy of entitlement.

Is there anyone else with me? Has anyone else even thought about these things? I do hope so . . .