“Hollow”-ween Engenders the Entitlement Mindset

Turning off the porch light won't keep entitlement away

Every Halloween, children don costumes, transforming into superheroes, witches, or other fantastical characters for a night of trick-or-treating. On the surface, it's a fun, imaginative tradition; however, for caring curmudgeons such as me, beneath the playful façade lie several nefarious elements. Perhaps most obviously, it is certainly right and important for parents to be concerned about the health effects of a holiday devoted to gathering and consuming sacks o’ processed food and artificial sweeteners. But often less palpable is the consideration of what lessons their children are imbibing, as well.

Wearing a costume allows someone to take on a new role, one that entitles him or her to rewards simply by virtue of the new appearance. This mentality, instilled from an early age, doesn't end when the Halloween decorations are put away. Instead, it metastasizes, carrying over into adult life where people continue to don figurative "costumes" and expect society to give them what they believe they're owed.

From politicians to seniors, parents, and college students, the entitlement mindset that begins with Halloween costumes simply progresses into ever more demands throughout life. On Halloween, we can always turn off our porch lights to opt out; later entitlements are more pernicious because they have no such escape hatch. Thankfully, we can do better.

The Entitlement of American Flag Pins

Fast forward a few decades, and that costume-wearing child has now become a politician. In their new “costume” of public office, politicians adopt the mindset that they are entitled to other people's money. Just as the child expected candy for simply dressing up, politicians believe that their titles give them a first right to people’s assets, including wages, homes, land, and other property. The costume has changed, but the entitlement hasn’t—and this time, it sucks $4.92 trillion in taxes from productive Americans.

Politicians, clothed in the (inaccurately) perceived respectability of office, demand taxes for programs and policies that generally serve to solidify their own power rather than serve people’s wants and needs (see all special appropriations for Ukraine and Israel for two timely examples). The connection between the value produced by taxpayers and the benefit to society becomes secondary. Like trick-or-treaters who feel they deserve candy for participating in Halloween, politicians frequently believe that they deserve the public’s money for simply holding office, regardless of the efficacy of their policies. In fact, they are so embedded in this entitlement mindset that questioning their right to tax the population is seen as absurd and even dangerous—a threat to democracy itself.

The entitlement they learned as children, expecting rewards for putting on a costume, has grown into a systemic expectation that they can take from others because of the position they hold. It’s the same principle, just writ large, in that now they have swapped a pirate costume for actual piracy.

The Entitlement of Age

Let’s not forget about seniors, who by retirement age have long since shed Halloween costumes in favor of the new role society has assigned them—beneficiaries of Social Security and Medicare. After years of having payroll taxes deducted from their paychecks, many seniors feel entitled to receive payouts from programs that, in reality, are nothing more than unsustainable government distribution schemes.

The costume here is the status of "senior citizen." By virtue of attaining an arbitrary age and believing the pervasive myth that they are simply receiving what they paid into the system, seniors feel they’ve earned the right to collect benefits. In reality, though, that money was spent long ago. Today’s seniors receive their benefits as a result of the payroll taxes on those still in the workforce. This entitlement echoes the same logic as trick-or-treating: I’ve put on this costume (now called retirement), so society owes me something. Whether or not it makes economic and moral sense simply is not part of the equation. Just as a child expects candy based on a costume, seniors expect Social Security and Medicare benefits based on age, even if it burdens younger generations and ignores economic realities. Nearly 73 million Americans received Social Security benefits as of August 2024, and that number is expected to continue growing. Consequently, the Social Security trust fund is expected to be depleted in 2033 while the Medicare Part A trust fund will experience the same fate in 2036.

Despite this unsustainability, all workers continue to be fleeced to the tune of 15.3% of their wages to pay for these entitlements even though the average net worth of those over 65 is roughly $1.7 million and over 10% of retirees in a Pew Charitable Trusts survey claimed to have at least $1 million just in their retirement accounts. (Consider also that the largest Social Security benefit is $58,476 per year for high-income retirees, subsidized by people who often earn far less than even that benefit amount.)

To paraphrase Ludwig von Mises, what destroys the incentives that guide actions is the general idea of the right to income at the expense of others. Social Security and Medicare, like candy on Halloween, represent a perceived entitlement that places a burden on others and encourages violent charity based solely on age.

The Entitlement of Diapers

Many modern parents often feel entitled to paid family leave and publicly funded education for their children. The costume here is one of "parenthood," a role that, although undeniably important, does not inherently place a burden on others for financial support. But, just like a child in a Halloween costume expecting candy, many parents believe that simply because they’ve chosen to raise a child, the government—and by extension, taxpayers—should provide them with highly subsidized services.

Paid family leave is framed as an entitlement, something that should automatically be provided to parents without regard to the economic consequences or the burden placed on employers and taxpayers. It’s the same entitlement mindset, only this time the costume of parenthood is used as justification for receiving benefits. However, do parents also believe employers, in their “costumes,” should be entitled to legally force their employees to work for them without compensation for a given number of months?

Government schooling is another area where the entitlement mindset thrives. Parents expect “free” education for their children, paid for by taxpayers, regardless of their personal circumstances or the quality of the schools. It’s taken for granted that because they’ve entered the role of "parent," the government should take care of their children’s education (and meals, beliefs, fitness, and transportation) even though in most areas of the country, parents of school-age children comprise only 25%–33% of the population. Further, most parents pay only a small fraction of the actual per-pupil costs for local government schools, but, again, the trick-or-treat mindset prevails and becomes the norm: "I’ve assumed this identity, so give me what I’m owed."

The Entitlement of Diplomas

A growing number of college students, many of whom still dress up for Halloween, also have developed an entitlement mindset for their educational funding. For one, the federal government now effectively provides roughly 93% of all student loans, so students have access to easy money without consideration of repayment ability, value of major, or desire to graduate. Indeed, over 50% of students did not even know their loan-repayment amounts. And even if they do know such an amount, many students assume they will not have to repay their loans anyway. Thanks to increasingly generous repayment plans that forgive debt after a certain number of years or outright debt-cancellation schemes such as Biden’s SAVE plan, many college students feel entitled to an education funded by borrowing from taxpayers (and themselves via future price inflation) but without the concomitant bill in the end. In fact, even in 2017, half of surveyed students believed they would be eligible for student-loan forgiveness. Candy without the cost has thus become the norm.

Conclusion

What starts as trick-or-treating on Halloween becomes a lifelong practice of putting on different costumes and expecting society to provide. The entitlement mindset, once rooted in candy, grows into demands for benefits from government programs, all under the assumption that a title or role automatically justifies the reward. The problem? Just as with trick-or-treating, there is little or no expectation of or requirement for recipients to provide value—only the expectation that society will keep handing out the candy.

So this Halloween, instead of fostering poor health and even poorer character, why not build a new tradition of value? Some ideas include the following: Along with your children, volunteer at a food bank; donate healthy food to the needy; help a neighbor rake leaves; start a home business; learn a new skill or language; work on a mechanical project around the house; cook a meal for the family; spend a night or two camping; deliver groceries to an elderly relative or neighbor; visit a family friend or relative to learn about his or her job; or read a book and discuss it as a family.

The real “trick,” then, is raising children with character who make no demands on others but who respect voluntary exchange, value creation, and others’ persons and property. Now, wouldn’t that be a treat?