2013 Farm Bill

I've been listening to the senate agricultural committee mark up of the farm bill.  What I've learned is that no dollar previously given to an interest group or constituency will every be cut.  I keep hearing the line "we should not balance the budget on the backs of <insert emotionally appealing interest group>.  The list of interest groups who cannot have any benefit cut by any amount is ever increasing and now includes anyone over 65, teenagers, children, single moms, veterans, soldiers, 'hard-working' Americans, and farmers.  We should save everyone a lot of time and just pass a law that says only middle aged white men will pay any taxes. When the food stamp program was started only 1 in 50 Americans used it, now it is 1 in 7.  The formula is simple.  Give away a whole bunch of freebies, when you destroy the budget make the emotionally appealing and intellectually void argument that the freebies cannot be cut and will instead be paid for by people who don't get the freebies.  This is a recipe for disaster.