OPINION:
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat who would have become vice president had Kamala Harris won the November 2024 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 that several nonprofits fraudulently redirected $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 jackpot. In the matter of the alleged fraudulent spending on phony day care centers in Minnesota — at least $9 billion, though President 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 day care operators deny many of the claims in the 43-minute video and call them misleading.
Still, Mr. Trump claims Illinois, California and New York are “even worse.”
A 2012 audit by the Department of Health and Human Services discovered $16 million in “improper” child care payments to Minnesota, but money continued to flow to the state. HHS is finally tightening requirements for payments from the program known as the Administration for Children and Families to every state and is 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.
Mr. Trump says the fraud in Minnesota is only the “tip of the iceberg.” Yes, and unless it and all other unnecessary federal spending are eliminated, the government will resemble the Titanic, sinking ever deeper into an 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 their effect on the country. Politicians are happy to dispense money to continue many voters’ addiction to government and their own reelections.
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 — which would get the attention of politicians more than anything else and is admittedly a fantasy — is an income tax rebellion. America has had many rebellions that forced leaders to act, even before July 4, 1776. Suppose large numbers of Americans stopped 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’ Rebellion (1786-1787), which protested the government’s increased efforts to collect taxes amid a debt crisis. The Whiskey Rebellion (1791-1794) railed against taxes. Later conflicts included Nat Turner’s Rebellion (1831) against slavery, 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 the government to put the country ahead of its 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 “They 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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