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Much of the press corps is eager to do a favor to Gov. Tim Walz (D., Minn.) by forgetting about the massive frauds against taxpayers that have occurred on his watch. But voters may not forget, and one prominent reformer is urging Democrats nationwide to remember that there’s a reason Mr. Walz is no longer running for re-election. Ruy Teixeira writes at the Liberal Patriot: The specter of welfare fraud haunts the Democrats once again. Concerns about abuse of generous government programs helped power the rise of Reagan-era conservatism in the 1970s and ’80s. Could the criminal abuse of hundreds of millions of dollars in welfare costs in Minnesota, which has brought down the state’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz, be leveraged to similar broad political effect today? … Before announcing that he would no
longer seek re-election, Walz admitted that some fraud happened on his watch but deflected, saying that Republicans are appealing to racism, xenophobia, and the ever-reliable bogeyman of “white supremacy.” Walz’s departure indicates this is no more effective than Democrats’ response to welfare fraud accusations in the Reagan era. Americans detest people getting something for nothing—the very essence of fraud. As the party that typically wants more and more generous social programs, Democrats have a special responsibility to ensure that these programs are clean as a whistle and reward
only those who “work hard and play by the rules.” Democrats are also the party that positions itself as the friend of immigrants and immigration. As such, they have a special responsibility to ensure that those admitted to the country assimilate, follow the rules and contribute—rather than take—from the community. The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that 81 percent of Somali-headed families in Minnesota use at least one welfare program (vs. 21 percent of native-headed households).
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