Testing Theories Of American Politics - Examples

Earlier today I said something about how this country's political system is broken. Here are two illustrative examples; the first serious, the second absurd.

Earlier this year congress passed a new farm bill. As happens every time the bill comes up for renewal, it morphs from legislation ostensibly intended to regulate farm policy into a catchall for political favors and special interests.

The name “farm” bill is itself a misnomer.  It’s really a “food stamp” bill since about 80 percent of its spending is dedicated to the food stamp program.  Politicians are forthright about why these unrelated programs are packaged together: politics.  Ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee Thad Cochran (R–MS) explained farm bill politics well when he argued that the farm bill includes food stamps “purely from a political perspective” since “it helps get the farm bill passed.”  Food stamps and farm programs are combined together so that the farm bill gets the support of the two distinct constituencies.  Urban members who support food stamps vote for the farm bill to protect their interests, and the rural members vote for their agriculture programs.

But wait! There's more!

...The most expensive farm program, crop insurance, wasn’t reformed at all.  While even President Obama would have cut about $12 billion from this costly program in his budget, the new bill actually increases costs by about $6 billion. Yet, programs that restrict supply and drive up food prices, such as the sugar program, were left untouched.

The special handouts to wealthy agribusinesses were left unscathed as well.  Taxpayers pay about 62 percent of the premiums for farmers who purchase crop insurance.  A minor reform in the Senate bill could have slightly lowered the subsidy for farmers with adjusted gross income of $750,000 or more.   Even this one little effort to provide some sensible policy to help taxpayers was excluded from the farm bill.  The sucking sound you hear is the money coming out of your pocket and being handed over to special interests.

Even holidays aren’t immune from the new bill.  It includes a provision from the House bill that requires the Department of Agriculture to allow a “mandatory assessment” (i.e. tax) on Christmas trees.

It gets worse. This year's version of the bill fails to plug even the most egregious loopholes.

The farm bill will allow “broad-based categorical eligibility” to continue, a policy that allows states to bypass asset tests for food stamp recipients. This means that individuals could have an unlimited amount of assets and still be eligible for food stamps as long as their income is low enough.

The 'farm bill' isn't limited to just agriculture and food stamp issues, either.

The farm bill includes the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program.

A Department of Interior (not Agriculture) program called Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) provides compensation to local governments to help make up for lost revenue resulting from federal land ownership (federal land generally can’t be taxed).

The (farm bill) includes direct handouts and loan guarantees for advanced biofuels and bio-refineries, and bio-based product manufacturers. It also re-authorizes the Rural Energy for America Program, where your taxpayer dollars help “complete energy audits and feasibility studies, complete energy efficiency improvements, install renewable energy systems... convert older heating sources to cleaner technologies, produce advanced biofuels, install flexible fuel pumps, install solar panels, build biorefineries, and much more.”  The farm bill even includes the re-authorization of the biodiesel fuel education program to help (educate) government entities, vehicle fleet owners and the public about the benefits of biodiesel use.

I've long been a proponent of single-issue legislation. Let each bill stand or fall on its own merits, as opposed to mixing up an unholy brew of regulations that benefit special interests, to the detriment of the general public. Sadly, I doubt if that will ever come to pass.

As for the ridiculous example I promised you, here's the back story.

After an intense search by hundreds of volunteers, the body of Peretz Sontag, the Pomona father of seven who has been missing since Friday March 14th, has been found in his car by a hiker and confirmed by New York State Park Rangers.

The 2012 Black Kia Optima driven by Sontag was discovered by a hiker down a 80-100 foot cliff off Lake Welch Parkway in the Haverstraw section of Harriman State Park.

A tragedy, to be sure. But the ridiculous part is the action of the New York State Park Police.

Volunteers attempting to search the area of Seven Lakes Drive in the Bear Mountains section of Harriman State Park were ticketed by officers of the New York State Parks Police for trespassing and illegally parked vehicles...

Volunteers of United Search and Rescue have told JP that last week Monday and again on Thursday they attempted to search the exact area where Mr. Sontag was found, but they were turned away by the Park Police.

The sources noted, that when the organizers of the volunteers search efforts reached out to the Park Police to assist with the search, they refused to take part in the search, claiming that they do not have enough resources. However, for some reason, they found resources to issue tickets.

Shades of the Cliven Bundy-BLM standoff. Funny how government entities never seem to have enough resources to help the general public (remember all the closures during the sequester?), but always manage to have enough when it comes to intimidating or outright oppressing We the People.

Sigh ... I need a drink...