• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

It's a Nathaniel Bacon Kind of World

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
“There is no more cuts to make,” said the former House Speaker said Sunday, while appearing on CNN‘s ‘State of the Union.‘ “It’s really important that people understand that.”


It's a Nathaniel Bacon Kind of World

I've begun listening to a lecture out of Yale again that is on the subject of the American Revolution. It's a fantastic lecture, full of inspiration for writings such as this. It helps me to bring focus to ideas that I know that I want to touch on, to write about, and to mull over some more in my mind, and that is always a good thing.

With a climbing national deficit, one of the topics that I hear and read about often is one on the subject of entitlement programs. While arguments may be made (and often are) for these programs, it might be interesting to take a look at the idea of entitlement in social and historical settings so that ideas may be formed individually on the actual subject.

Let me begin by what sparked this particular post:

As I mentioned, I am in the process of listening to Dr. Freeman's lecture series on the American Revolution out of Yale. In the second lecture she discusses the concept of being a British Colonist. It's a very interesting subject that is necessary look at when studying the Revolution as a whole, but the particular discussion on entitlement is what caught my attention. She noted that often "sons of the lesser gentry" would come over to what was then the British Colonies with the preconceived idea that they were owed something above the rest. Jamestown was one colony that had a particular problem with this situation. Men would settle, but unused to working for what they received they would often starve (hence the rule that so many children learn in school associated with Jamestown - He who does not work does not eat). As Dr. Freeman humorously put it, "I'm sorry, I'm above plowing. I'm going to die now."

Many people came to this country in search of something better. They came for religious freedoms, for a new start, and sometimes to pay either a monetary or a criminal debt that was owed. Some of these men worked their debts off, gaining the ability to own land and to build themselves up from nothing. It was a stark difference from the way that Britain operated back home, but it worked well for the Colonists.

Image via VirginiaPlaces.org
One of the examples that Dr. Freeman used when discussing the issue of certain group's feelings of entitlement and the problems that it brought about - and granted, this one is extreme, but points are often
made amidst the extreme - is a young man named Nathaniel Bacon. He was a younger son of the British gentry that left England for Jamestown in search of wealth and power that he could not receive in his homeland. In other words: the system in England did not allow for the movement that he wished for, so he went to a place that would. Fair enough so far. The problem arose when he arrived and, while he left because of the restraints placed on him by a restrictive system, did not find the same restrictions holding back the types of men that were described in the last paragraph. He found that there was already an established hierarchy of men that had lived and worked there for years. Young Mr. Bacon thought that with his pedigree behind him, he should be able to stroll in and receive anything that his heart desired.

He thought he was entitled to it and he wanted it both ways: He wanted the mobility within society that was denied him by being a younger son in English society, but he wanted what he thought was due to him as English nobility. He left England to be a big fish in a little pond, as it were, and found himself the same as the other fish, if not a bit smaller because he had done nothing to earn his place.

One might think that he would have learned his lesson at some point, almost like a small child that holds their breath until they get what they want, but in the end he gathered other like-minded and equally sour men around him that believed they had somehow been cheated out of what was "rightfully" theirs and what was due them by birth and hatched up the idea that, as an answer to their problems, they should not take up a plow and set to work like the others in the colony, but should band together to attack the nearest group of Indians and steal their land. Because that is always a good course of action. The governor of Jamestown did step in to put a stop to Bacon's madness, but the whole fiasco ended with Jamestown burnt to the ground.

Nathaniel Bacon's story most likely sounds absurd to the average, modern American. It should, but the sad truth is that the point behind this part of Bacon's story (a person believes he is owed something for nothing and when he does not receive it, lashes out) is encouraged in today's America. While there are obviously people in this nation that are, for health reasons, unable to provide for themselves (and though we may be able to debate on the subject of where this aid should come from, we will not add this particular selection of people into the discussion), one cannot make a valid argument that the system is not worked and abused by many of its users.

I am not an economical expert, nor even a societal expert, but I am an avid people-watcher with a great many friends and acquaintances from all walks of life. Something I've noticed is that there are three main types of people that go on government support: 1. People with legitimate disabilities that keep them from working 2. People that have hit hard times (either cannot find work or have a temporary disability) and have no desire to rely on the government long-term and 3. People who feel they are entitled to something that they have not earned.

With a government that strives to "take care of us" from cradle to grave, it only encourages this style of behavior. Personal responsibility has gone by the wayside and has been replaced with entitlements such as Nathaniel Bacon sought in the 17th century. He had earned it, he had no claim to it, but he wanted it, and surely that was enough. That's how many in our society think and act today. It affects all parts of our lives from the taxes we pay (because, of course, the government has to take care of us) to the way that people handle each other in their day-to-day lives.

I'm sure Nathaniel Bacon would have been quite happy in today's America. He could kick back and relax, letting those less deserving than he do the work for him. After all, he wanted it, so it should be his. Never mind the fact that someone else worked for what he was receiving, they could surely afford it because he is deserving. After all, he must be quite tired after filling out all of that paperwork for his Unemployment, his Section 8 Housing voucher, his government-paid-for phone, and his food stamps.

http://www.intheshadowofthegreats.com/2013/09/its-nathaniel-bacon-kind-of-world.html
 
Top