For release: 01/08/26
Waste, fraud and abuse (repeat)
By Cal Thomas
Tribune Content Agency
Governor Tim Walz, Minnesota Democrat, who might have become vice president had Kamala Harris won the November election, has announced he will not be seeking a third term. The alleged fraud involving day care centers and allegations that federal aid went to outside entities, including China and East Africa, apparently forced his decision.
A trial opened this week in Mississippi where it is alleged several nonprofits fraudulently re-directed $77 million in federal money to enrich themselves.
We regularly hear complaints of “waste, fraud and abuse” in Washington. Politicians make promises to root it out. Rarely do they follow through.
Fraud usually makes headlines only when the amount exceeds the lottery. In the matter of the alleged fraudulent spending on phony day care centers in Minnesota – at least $9 billion, though Trump claimed $18 billion in his New Year’s Eve speech at Mar-a-Lago – the amount was impossible to ignore. It took a 23-year-old YouTube video creator, not the mainstream media, to attempt it, though many Somali daycare operators refute many of the claims in the 12-minute video, and call them misleading. Still, Trump claims Illinois, California and New York are “even worse.”
A 2012 audit by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) discovered $16 million in “improper” childcare payments to Minnesota, but money continued to flow to the state.
HHS is finally tightening requirements for payments from the program known as Administration for Children to every state and requiring justification and a receipt or photo evidence for proper expenditures. Isn’t that what employers in the private sector require when expense forms are submitted?
Question: What took them so long? Answer: It isn’t their money.
President Trump says the fraud in Minnesota is only the “tip of the iceberg.” Yes, and unless it and all unnecessary federal spending is eliminated the government will resemble the Titanic, sinking into a deeper ocean of debt that will lead to unpleasant and potentially catastrophic consequences.
I see only three ways to correct this. The first is to elect people to Congress who are serious about addressing wasteful government spending. That is unlikely to happen because too many people want to maintain their government benefits and don’t seem to care about its effect on the country. Politicians are happy to dispense money to continue many voters’ addiction to government and their own re-elections.
The second way is a Convention of States that would amend the Constitution to require a balanced budget except in extraordinary circumstances (such as war or a 9/11-type terrorist attack). So far, 19 of the necessary 34 states have approved a convention resolution. Others are in the process of considering the Article V constitutional provision.
A third way would get the attention of politicians more than anything else – and one which admittedly is a fantasy – is an income tax rebellion. America has seen many rebellions that forced leaders to act, even preceding July 4, 1776. Suppose large numbers of Americans decided to stop paying federal income taxes until politicians stop wasting the money we earn?
Rebellions in America go back to colonial uprisings. Bacon’s Rebellion (1676) protested high taxes, among other things. This was followed by the Stono Rebellion (1739), the largest slave revolt in the British mainland colonies. Shays’s Rebellion (1786-87), which protested the government’s increased efforts to collect taxes amid a debt crisis. The Whiskey Rebellion (1791-94) railed against taxes. Later conflicts included Nat Turner’s Rebellion (1831) against slavery and the worker and civil rights movements and anti-Vietnam War protests in the 1960s.
If millions of Americans refuse to pay their federal income taxes until Congress ends wasteful and fraudulent spending and creates a mechanism that will substantially reduce it in the future, withholding money from Washington might force government to put the country ahead of their own interests. Again, it’s just a fantasy and is unlikely to happen, but it would be entertaining to watch politicians squirm when the revenue spigot is turned off.
America could use another rebellion. The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution begins “We the people,” not them the government. Perhaps Bob Dylan could write a protest song that would serve as the anthem.
Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (HumanixBooks).
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