I’m angry about what happened in Minnesota. But I’m even angrier about what it represents.
Hundreds of millions of dollars meant to feed children, care for the disabled, and support families in need were allegedly siphoned off through programs that were poorly monitored, lightly audited, and politically protected. That isn’t a one-off failure. It is what happens when we expand programs without demanding real accountability for how the money is spent.
Let me be clear: this is not an argument against helping people. I believe deeply in a safety net for those who genuinely need it. But compassion without oversight is not compassion — it’s negligence. And when fraud becomes widespread, the real victims are the vulnerable people those programs were created to serve, along with the taxpayers who fund them.
What should concern Utahns is not whether Minnesota’s leadership failed, but whether we’ve built systems that assume good intentions are a substitute for controls. In any business, nonprofit, or household, if money goes out the door with no verification, no transparency, and no consequences, abuse is inevitable. Government should not be the one place where we pretend otherwise.
We don’t need slogans. We need boring, unglamorous reforms: real audits, clear eligibility standards, transparent reporting, and the political courage to shut down programs that cannot prove they work as intended. That is not cruelty. That is stewardship.
If we truly care about the people these programs are meant to help, then we must demand that every dollar reach its purpose.
Accountability is not the enemy of compassion.
It is the only way compassion actually survives.
Michael Evans, St. George
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