The current administration’s findings of wasteful and fraudulent spending are as welcome as the people defending the grift is puzzling.
Puzzling in the fact that these people believe that money is theirs to toy with — since it was either taken from taxes and now belongs to the bureaucracy, or that their mistaken belief that countless ridiculous programs are actually making the country better.
I’ve even read pieces where some folks have dismissed the efforts of DOGE and the president as being ineffective, as if to say they might as well quit cause they’ll never fix the problem.
The entrenched bureaucrats, as well as elected congressfolk, are attempting to sway public opinion against any cost-cutting measures, filing lawsuits and drafting legislation to put the brakes on the reckoning that the American people voted for.
Anyone that has taken even a passing glance at the misspent funds would see a couple of patterns forming — that government knows best and will do what’s best no matter how much it beats down the populace, and that it will be done with a keen eye to personal enrichment.
What I mean by that is government contracts going to friends, relatives and supporters in completely overblown amounts; kickbacks; and of course, all of the insider trading that has made millionaires out of people who supposedly are public servants.
And even in those cursory glances, you can find that what actual money is going to actual federal agencies that are actually supposed to help people has not had the necessary effect, and in many cases have made things worse.
For instance, education scores have dropped, even though more and more funds are pumped into the Department of Education; and if you listen to the sages, the environment is all the screwed up and it needs more and more money and regulations to combat climate change, just to name a few.
Because of this, the country has not only gone backwards in liberty, but also into trillions of dollars in debt, and the only people really better off are the government workers and their handlers.
Regardless if the amount of misspent funds isn’t quite yet enough to right the ship of state, it has to start somewhere, since pebbles are just as much part of the avalanche as boulders. After a while, it will start to add up; these problems didn’t grow overnight and won’t be fixed overnight.
Finding waste is only part of the solution. There has to be a full reckoning, one that includes consequences for malfeasance. Sure, saying “I was only doing my job” will come up, but anyone who purposely uses the government to line their own pockets — the federal version of the “Crimson Permanent Assurance” (I’m thinking of the Bidens here) — needs to be held accountable.
If that accountability means firing, arrests or restitution, so be it. It just needs to be made clear that we, the people, are in charge, and the flagrant spending of tax dollars while ignoring strictures listed in the Constitution must stop.
Tony Farkas is editor of the San Jacinto News-Times and the Trinity County News-Standard. He writes opinion articles and his views don’t necessarily reflect those of this newspaper. He can be reached at tony@polkcountypublishing.com
