The Enlightened Despot

You would be forgiven for assuming that any day when a senator from Iowa steps down as chairman of the agriculture committee must be a great day for agriculture policy. Certainly, no right-thinking person will miss Tom Harkin’s leadership on all things farm-related. If Harkin is a religious man, he is surely hoping that Thomas Jefferson was right when he said “those who labour in the earth are the chosen people of God”, and that it goes without saying that the earth in question is American earth; if God has much interest in poor brown people farming in poor brown countries, Harkin is in for an awkward debriefing on the other side.

Unfortunately, the structure of senate committees pretty much ensures that every paid-for chairman will be replaced by another just as bad. Or, as in this case, one that is even worse:

Lincoln is as vigorous a proponent for large farms and livestock interests (think Arkansas-based Tyson Foods) as there is in Congress. Pair her with the panel’s senior Republican, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, and you have a powerful one-two punch for the southern perspective on agricultural policy.

The southern perspective being, roughly, the midwestern perspective minus the belief that global warming is bad. So that should be fun.

In other news, you’ll notice an unfamiliar author name at the top of this post. I am, in fact, Akhbar the Great, but from now on I’ll be posting under the absurd name ‘NC Saint’. It’s not quite as dignified, but I’ve landed a gig that could occasionally lead to my writing posts elsewhere, and my new employers refuse to believe that I am a 16th century Mughal emperor. I apologize for combining this news with an unrelated rant about farm subsidies, but King Felix says I’m not allowed to write updates about the status of the blog. But, while I’m at it, I’ll mention that regular posting here resumes now.