"Troussage de Domestique"

For Americans, entitlements are spelled out in the Bill of Rights part of the Constitution. To Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, have been added some others, namely the right to a decent retirement, as in Social Security and the right to medical attention after retirement, as in Medicare, both programs that Republicans have always wanted to eliminate as too costly from a viewpoint that puts business interests above all others. It's too soon to kn0w if the Affordable Health Care Act of 2010 will survive Republican hypocrisy and develop fully into another entitlement, thereby bringing the United States finally in line with all the other industrial countries of the Western world in bringing quality health services to their peoples. These rights are precious and always in danger, especially in times of recession.

No where is there any Droite de Seigneur, the outrageous 16th century feudal fancy that the local lord had a right to bed the daughters of his vassals at the time of their marriages. A custom dead everywhere except among the fading aristocrats and moguls of Europe lingers on and it is called "troussage de domestique" an employer's right to lift the skirt of a female servant. It's based on domestic servants being so desperate for work that they will tolerate any indignity to continue getting a regular paycheck.

There is no right to sex on demand, no matter how handsome, powerful or wealthy one may be, but you can't tell that to "Ahnold" who build his fortune and career on his spectacularly muscular bod. He had the brains, education and charisma to be many things, serving as the Republican governor of California was just one of them. Whatever else might have been possible is rather iffy because of his all to obvious sense of sexual entitlement and what it implies. Almost as egregious as his uncontrolled sexuality is his cowardice in concealing the affair with the family housekeeper for 10 years!

Men are designed to be more aware of their sexuality than women; God intended them to be more aggressive than women so that the human race would survive and multiply and he surely built all kinds of redundancy into his plan. One result is that some men believe they are entitled to to a certain frequency and quality of sex. They are not! God provided strict rules of engagement, so to speak, and they are well understood in Western society. If Arnold knows about his responsibilities as a man, he has decided to ignore them because he has been dazzled by his so called good fortune. His downfall is, and will be terrible, not only because of his antiquated and juvenile sexual proclivities, but also because he made a complete fool of his wife, a remarkable woman in her own right who needs neither his money or name.

Schwarzenegger is joined in his narcissism by millions of men who don't know the meaning of the word. To them, sexual abuse is culturally endemic, a symbol of their sacred masculinity and, in some cases, may provide the only pleasure available in very harsh and difficult lives.

I know many people who have been raised with a sense of general entitlement. Indeed, I am one of them, but things have changed immensely in just my lifetime. It is no longer enough to be comfortable in the halls of privilege. One has to prove himself everyday or he/she will be eaten alive by legions of competitors springing up seemingly from nowhere who have zero respect for legacies or unearned freebies. They are largely a thing of the past except for a dwindling base of the super rich. Moreover, the race today is much longer and more complicated than previously. Just consider among them the totally different aspirations of women, to say nothing of the changing role of men. In the current affairs of men and women, anyone thinking about entitlements is delusional. Poor Arnold, he is doomed now to being just a late night comedian's joke, if that. Worse, he is a disgrace to his sex.

Now comes before us, the newly married Representative Anthony Weiner, age 46, and his explicit internet sexting with half a dozen young women. Leestake is that the congressman's "crie de coeur" indicates he needs psychiatric help of the inpatient variety. He may be merely a victim of his physical endowment, though I haven't seen pictures because the NY Times doesn't print that, I think the word now is, junk, but if I'm right he may have done men everywhere a favor. So called locker room heroes are doomed to the same kind of fate that often befalls high school and college sports stars who marry the Homecoming Queen and then spend the rest of their lives with no place to go except down with their dreams of the pros. If a guy regards his penis as his primary asset, he is in as much trouble as the beautiful gal people snicker at for wasting her life fighting to stay looking like 25. Mr. Weiner may be a talented legislator, but to many people he's always going to seem like a creep with a serious mental health problem who disgraced himself and the US House of Representatives. Regrettably, Anthony and Arnold have plenty of company.