Opinion articles provide independent perspectives on key community issues, separate from our newsroom reporting.

Letters to the Editor

‘Entitlement’ is not a dirty word

Why has “entitlement” become a dirty word? My old dictionary defines “entitle” as “to qualify for something” or “to give a legal right to.” As a long-time employee of the Social Security Administration, I would add “to have earned benefits.”

We awarded Social Security benefits to people who were found to be “entitled,” i.e, to have earned the benefits. What is wrong with that?

Fran Heffernan, Fresno

This story was originally published March 23, 2017 at 12:50 PM with the headline "‘Entitlement’ is not a dirty word."

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