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The Wild, Wild... East?It's a common understanding, inside the Beltway, that when passing major legislation, nothing is final until it's signed into law. Lawmakers make deals with each other during the course of negotiations but, deep down all involved fear that the person on the other end of that handshake may back out at the last minute. I have a hunch that during the course of this farm bill debate, such fears were realized. As we all know, the pain of this farm bill debate has gone on far too long. It looks like the bill is now written and all that is left is the arguing, voting, vetoing and possible override. Frankly, after such a long fight of trying to keep up with the backroom deals, outlandish public statements, and point blank finger pointing of who's to blame for delays, I just don't have the energy to lay out what all went wrong and right with this bill. Look for that next week. This week, however, I think it is important to address what, in my belief, was the primary reason this bill was not completed in a timely and civil manner. There were plenty of speed bumps along the way, but by far the largest and sharpest speed bump, which popped so many tires, was the national media. Farm bills and election years just don't work. There are simply too many editorial writers with little to no understanding of agriculture who want to write about agriculture. Such enthusiasm in farm policy would be refreshing should they want to promote the rural way of life. However, the vast majority of the editorials covering the farm bill over the last two years broadly criticized production agriculture. Many hoped their writings would drive policy and thus farming back to a lifestyle that they read about in a Louis L'Amour novel. While I personally enjoy Mr. L'Amour's stories, I don't want to return to the days of washing my clothes in a creek and pulling a plow behind livestock, while waiting for a gun slinging outsider to drive the bad cattle poacher out of town. Such practices will not meet the demands of consumers. Senator Pat Roberts has called this type of production "Walden Pond Agriculture". It's pleasant to daydream about life without cell phones and traffic but to actually write laws that force agriculture into such a way of life is ridiculous. Yet, some of these writers advocate for just such legislation. Conferees made numerous statements in open conference meetings where a member cited either an editorial or article from a major East Coast publication as a justification for a policy position. This is where I, an editorial writer myself, get upset. If we are going to let editorial writers--like me--write farm bills and other legislation, why hold elections? Let's save all the money spent on campaigns, staff, administration and taxes and put it back into our pockets. We can then let editorial writers do the work of the legislators while we sit back and watch all heck break loose. I'll be sitting on my porch in a rocking chair with a shot gun, waiting for a tall dark rider to come into town and set things right. Just like Louis L'Amour would have written. 5/19/08 Date: 5/14/08
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