Letter: Government waste, fraud and abuse

🎧 Letter: Who Let the Government Waste Go On for 70 Years?

Thomas Schenk says there’s a reason people are voting with their feet

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and may not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com

So … DOGE, Department of Government Efficiency, has shuttered its doors, however, the federal government is continuing on with the fight to stop the billions of dollars of fraud, waste and abuse.

The extent of corruption in the government’s give-away programs is legendary among most of us, despite not having any “concrete” evidence showing such theft.

What DOGE accomplished were revelations absolutely confirming what we all suspected … federal government programs were ripe for the picking and boy … the crooks went whole-hog on these programs!

My question is … where were all the smart elected officials sent to Washington D.C. to, among other things, protect taxpayer funds taken by the government under threat of prosecution?

These senators and representatives are not stupid, so what happened on the way to the Capitol?

I can understand the Democrats’ position … they never met a give-away program they didn’t want to fund, so they, essentially, were buying votes from those receiving this largess and, as DOGE has shown, many of these numerous agencies were spitting out our taxpayer dollars like these funds grew on trees.

But what about elected Republicans and I’m talking about 70 years of turning a blind eye to what DOGE has recently uncovered. Granted, the most egregious theft has likely taken place since the election of Barack Obama in 2008, but Americans have suffered years of waste, fraud and abuse of their hard-earned dollars.

Senator William Proxmire, a Democrat from Wisconsin, who retired in 1988, was a champion of trying to halt wasteful government spending and he emphasized this approach by handing out “Golden Fleece” awards on wasteful government spending.

Sen. William Proxmire (D-WI) hadn’t been in Washington long before he observed a great deal of wasteful and often nonsensical government spending. So, the Democrat from Wisconsin decided to highlight the frivolity by issuing 168 “Golden Fleece” awards every month from 1975 to 1988.

Today, Senator William Proxmire would be a conservative Republican and he would still be handing out Golden Fleece awards … why is that?

Why did it take Elon Musk and some intrepid computer whizzes to provide the evidence of waste that everyone suspected, but for which many elected officials, on both sides of the aisle, did nothing about?

We are only talking about the federal government … are we to believe that the Washington state government does a better job at preventing the theft of taxpayer dollars? Baloney!

I believe a majority of voters in this state, Republicans, Democrats and Independents, are tired of the yearly “milkings” of taxpayers by the Democrat-controlled legislature and governors.

I only hope it will translate into a revolt at the ballot box resulting in an end to one-party rule and the continued idea that taxpayers will never do anything about being run over by either the federal or state governments.

And for those of you out there who actually support the socialist/communist program of redistribution of wealth, I ask what gives you the right to stick your hand in my wallet and extract what you believe I and/or my family can afford to do without?

There’s a reason people are voting with their feet!

Thomas Schenk
Amboy

Thomas Schenk says there’s a reason people are voting with their feet

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