Here’s the deal we’re supposed to have with the government: we work hard, pay an obscene amount in taxes, and trust that our money will be handled with at least a shred of competence. We expect it to fund the basics, and we grudgingly accept that some of it will go to helping Americans who have fallen on hard times.
What we don’t sign up for is that safety net mutating into an unrecognizable monster. Under liberal control, the welfare system has become a sprawling, bureaucratic beast where accountability goes to die. And who’s running the show? The foxes, naturally. They’re the insiders who know every nook and cranny of the bloated system, perfectly positioned to exploit it while hardworking citizens foot the bill.
From BizPac Review:
“According to court records, between December 2020 and April 2025, Mariscal improperly used county databases to which she had access through her job to obtain identifying information for individuals who were elderly or deceased. She then secretly approved these individuals to receive CalFresh benefits, printed EBT cards in their names with the benefits deposited thereon, and spent the proceeds. Altogether, Mariscal used the identities of more than 15 people to steal benefits totaling more than $40,000.”
An insider ripping off the government in California? Color me shocked. Not really. While the details are nauseating, this story is the predictable result of the progressive experiment that has hollowed out the Golden State, leaving behind a husk of corruption and incompetence.
A Symptom of Blue State Governance
So how does a scam like this run for nearly five years without anyone batting an eye? It’s simple, really. It happens when government gets so big it can’t even see its own hands. In places like California, the public sector is an empire unto itself, so insulated and complex that genuine oversight is a fantasy. A longtime apparatchik like Leticia Mariscal wasn’t just an employee; she was part of a machine so vast that nobody was checking the receipts.
It wasn’t a state audit or some sharp-eyed supervisor who caught her. The scheme was only exposed when the son of a 91-year-old victim had the courage to speak up. This is the grim reality of big government: it is a paradise for grifters, protected by a system too disorganized and apathetic to police its own.
The Welfare State’s Corrupting Influence
For years, conservatives have been sounding the alarm about the moral rot that accompanies the modern welfare state. This isn’t about helping people anymore; it’s about expanding government power. And this case is Exhibit A. Programs like CalFresh have been so aggressively expanded that the primary goal is getting money out the door, not ensuring it gets to the right people.
That wasn’t Gavin Newsom’s money Mariscal was spending at Costco. It was yours. That’s $40,000 you sweated for, money that could have fixed a road, bought textbooks, or stayed in your pocket to help you provide for your own family. Instead, it was siphoned into a system built on fraud-friendly policies and stolen by a government worker.
Where Is the Accountability?
Let’s be blunt. What kind of person preys on the elderly and steals the identities of the dead? The kind of person who knows they operate in a system with zero real consequences. When she was finally cornered, Mariscal didn’t own her disgusting actions. She tried to pin the whole thing on a gang member, playing the victim.
This is the pathetic culture that blue states have cultivated—a world of excuses where personal responsibility is a foreign concept. From prosecutors who refuse to prosecute to a welfare system that invites plunder, the message from the top is clear: rules are for suckers. This isn’t just about one corrupt woman. It’s a snapshot of the systemic decay that defines modern liberalism. Leticia Mariscal is a monster, but she’s a monster the state of California created.
Key Takeaways
- Bloated government bureaucracies are breeding grounds for insider corruption.
- Liberal welfare policies create systems that are magnets for fraud.
- Blue state governance fosters a culture of low accountability.
- Hardworking taxpayers are the ultimate victims of government waste and fraud.
Sources: BizPac Review
