I am a proud member of that tradition, and also a proud partisan. Thus, it would be easy to blame one side of the political spectrum for all the problems in society.

Cable news does it all the time. But when times change, the problems we face and the culture we keep change as well.

Because our system of government is designed to harness our disagreements, we sometimes remain ignorant to important societal trends. At times, these shifts can be negative and profound, blindly overlooked by the politics of the moment.

I believe if we look close enough, a sad truth emerges: Regardless of political affiliation, too many Americans are caught up in an epidemic of entitlement.

To begin, the political left has its sacred cows of entitlement. For far too long, the union lobby has hidden behind the façade of sticking up for worker rights. The obvious truth is that too many unions have demanded more pay even when they produce less.

In government, public unions demand 3 to 5 percent pay increases even in the midst of an economic downturn — even as state and federal revenues have declined.

In the private sector, many ask a company to pay more of its already struggling profit margin into pension plans, whose only merit is “I want it” and rarely “I earned it.”

These people pretend General Motors and Greece did not go bankrupt and that money will fall from the heavens and fill their bloated benefit programs.

Similarly, many on the right shamelessly pursue a sense of entitlement as well. They argue for an unrealistic perception of individual rights under the guise of “liberty” and “freedom.”

Paying taxes in even the most low-tax, business-friendly states has somehow intruded upon their constitutional rights. But they demand popular programs such as Medicare and Social Security while rejecting the very taxes it would require to pay for them.

In the end, they have stretched their individual rights so far that they are free riders to the system just as much as any generously paid union worker.

Money will come down from the heavens to pay for their tax cuts too. Go figure.

It becomes hard to have an adult conversation regarding difficult challenges if partisans have such distorted views of reality.

And what comes from all this stupidity in our society should be no surprise: a nonpartisan bunch of children plagued with a leveling fever that is as detrimental to their own well-being as it is to the longevity of “Brand U.S.A.”

If you don’t believe me, ask Oprah Winfrey. She knows.

She was criticized a couple years ago for opening up a school in Africa. People asked, “Why not in America?” Oprah responded by saying kids in America want iPods, not an education.

It just so happens that kids in Africa — in the face of impoverishment and constant warfare — have an incentive to do their best in school. Unlike lazy grade-school students in America, they understand the significance of a good education.

Perhaps a larger national embarrassment than Winfrey’s comments about American students’ laziness could trigger a shift in attitudes. I am not so sure how cocky we would be if we see other countries passing us in Gross Domestic Product or technological advancement.

When the next breakthrough comes from a Chinese or Indian student’s hard-earned labor, maybe then we will realize we’re behind the curve when it comes to elbow grease.

Ultimately, the only entitlement we really deserve is telling our children about the legacy of “American exceptionalism” throughout history.

When telling that story, we should remember that America was never the place where a few generations worked hard for a few years to be mediocre, and to continue their greatness requires just as much effort as those before us.

Until we all realize this, we will continue to be consumed by an epidemic of entitlement.

Ameek Singh is a State News guest columnist. Reach him at sodhiame@msu.edu.