And Chile catapulted from one of the lowest per capita GDP countries in Latin America in 1980 to the highest today.

But, where, amidst all this great economic news is the moral lesson?

In talking about the transformation of all pension systems -- government and private alike -- from defined benefit (controlled by others and they tell you what you'll get) to defined contribution (you own it, and put your own funds into it), Pinera touches the root of the problem of today's welfare state. He sums things up, pointing out that "life is not a defined benefit."

When our founding fathers signed off, in our Declaration of Independence, on the words that "all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights," they meant "rights" to live your life freely and unimpeded by others. Government's job, as the Declaration goes on, is "to secure these Rights." It's there to protect you.

Over the years, as we've become intoxicated with our own success, and detached from our own roots and principles, our understanding of "rights" and government has morphed into things altogether different. "Rights" have become what everyone is allegedly entitled to (our claims on others) and we look to government to enforce delivery of these entitlements.

The ocean of Social Security and Medicare red ink in which we are about to drown speaks to the efficacy of the entitlement mindset. The nanny state not only violates, rather than protects, our rights. It doesn't work.

Today we must look to Chile to learn what America's founders knew. Freedom is built on and fueled by personal responsibility

In an international survey released by the Pew Global Attitudes project last July, 62 percent of Chileans responded that they expect the next generation to be better off than their parents -- highest in Latin America. Number two was Bolivia where 45 percent believe the next generation will be better off.

In a just released USA Today Gallup poll, only 46 percent of respondents in the U.S. expressed optimism that the next generation in our country would "live better than their parents."

The entitlements crisis is a moral crisis and we ought to grasp that ownership is part of the "values" agenda. Life is not a defined benefit.