Dear Editor:

The seductive and delusive Republican mantra; waste, fraud, and abuse has a catchy rhythm and who could say no to its appeal? After all, no one wants to see their tax dollars being wasted, our government defrauded or programs being abused. All candidates for office should be beating this drum.

We have listened to this drumbeat from Republican candidates for decades and even when they get elected, there always seems to be more waste, fraud, and abuse to root out. One might think that prosecutors nationwide could make careers of putting people in jail for criminal acts that fraud and abuse imply, but the numbers just don’t stack up. Former Governor LePage famously lavished millions of our taxpayer dollars investigating his claims of welfare fraud, but came up embarrassingly short. Where is it then?

We have heard the apocryphal story of the welfare queen driving her caddy to the welfare office to pick up her check, but when it comes to numbers, there is scant evidence of any waste, fraud or abuse. In fact, the trope of the welfare queen is entirely fictional. The problem is one of definition and perspective. In common parlance, waste, fraud and abuse are evil things that encumber good government. But to the rich people who sponsor these campaigns, any government spending that does not directly benefit them fits the bill.

So when Republicans who campaign with this rhetoric get elected, they attack, not waste, fraud and abuse, but our education system, health care, infrastructure maintenance, government pension plans, agencies dedicated to consumer and worker protection and all the things that government does to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” Because when you are rich, you don’t need a government to do these things for you.

What we need are candidates who focus on protecting liberty and justice. I hope one day Republicans will turn their efforts to actually making America great for the rest of us.

Fred W. Nehring

Boothbay