The Inspector General (IG) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently reported to a House committee about the fraud being perpetrated in the food stamp program over which USDA is ostensibly supposed to exercise oversight and control.

As bad as the fraud is, however, one passage from the IG’s testimony sticks out like a sore thumb, betraying the Progressive-Liberal mindset:

“In some cases, recipients have exchanged benefits for drugs, weapons, and other contraband,” she said. “When trafficking occurs unchecked, families do not receive the intended nutritional assistance, and unscrupulous retailers profit at the expense of the American public.”

Note, please, the careful phraseology: “families do not receive the intended nutritional assistance.” In other words, these CRIMINALS are perceived as VICTIMS, not irresponsible people who clearly CRIMINALLY NEGLECT their families’ needs in exchange for “drugs, weapons, and other contraband.” It’s as if the IG can’t bring herself to blame those truly responsible for these crimes but would rather redirect culpability away from her constituents.

To where? Notice the way the emphasis comes to rest upon how “unscrupulous retailers profit,” presumably to the exclusion of any and all other parties who might gain from such corruption — all of which is perfectly in line with this crypto-Marxist administration’s anti-capitalistic, anti-free-market philosophy.

The mere suggestion that welfare programs do more harm than good and should be terminated would probably send the IG of the USDA into a paroxysm of fear and denial — but such a recommendation isn’t really likely to be forthcoming from either major political party roaming the corridors of power in Washington and elsewhere.

For more, see Edwin Mora’s “IG: Welfare Recipients Traded Food Stamps for Cash to Buy Drugs and Guns”, CNS News, March 8, 2012.