Via Instapundit, Joshua Claybourn is cynical and pessimistic about the prospects for cutting farm subsidies. While I’m not optimistic, his pessimism, at least as stated, seems unjustified on two counts.

First, not to use an argument from non-authority, but quoting Atrios is hardly likely to be persuasive to any thinking person….

But more to the point, Atrios’ “argument” (such as it is) is flaccid:

…I predict that the most likely result of this attempt to cut farm spending is precisely what happened in 2002 when Bush also proposed cutting farm subsidies. A bill will pass which significantly increases farm subsidies, at which point Bush will sign it and praise it.

Well, not to sound too trite, but that was then, and this is now. 2002 was an election year, in which Congress was up for grabs, and the president still had a reelection of his own coming up. He also had less support in both houses of Congress than he does today.

It appears to me that the president, having been reelected and having to worry no more about having to win another election, has decided to cut back on the “compassionate conservatism” (for which read standard liberalism and government growth, but not quite as fast) and try to make up for past sins in his second term (on a number of fronts, not just farm subsidies). I suppose it’s possible that he’ll end up signing and praising an increase in agriwelfare, but the politics of it this year make it seem unlikely. He may not get what he wants, but I’m guessing that he’ll at least threaten a veto to attempt to, and if he doesn’t, he won’t praise it this time.

Here’s a whiny piece from the LA Daily News, with at least two questions not asked (nor are they ever asked in pieces like this, or if they are, it’s rare):

President George W. Bush’s lean $2.57 trillion budget plan to beef up the U.S. military comes at the expense of Southern California’s ability to hire more cops, help battered women and clean its drinking water.

The proposed 2006 budget slashes programs considered vital by local officials, including Los Angeles’ Community Oriented Policing program, used to hire more police, and community block grants that fund low-income housing and other social services.

Boo.Hoo.

First unasked question: Why is it the responsibility of a taxpayer in Wyoming to provide clean drinking water for Los Angeles residents? Or pay cops’ salaries?

How did this come to be within the purview of the federal government? These are local issues, that should be locally funded.

On to the next:

Getting California’s fair share of federal tax dollars has long been on the agenda of Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders of both parties, with all five of them scheduled to be in Washington on Feb. 17 to meet with the state’s 53 congressional members to see whether the current situation can be improved.

Estimates currently peg the state’s take at 77 cents for every dollar paid to Washington by California taxpayers, and Democratic leaders in Sacramento said Monday that the president’s budget doesn’t bode well for rectifying that imbalance.

Our intrepid reporters report this as though it’s a perfectly sensible notion that each state should get back exactly as much (if not more–though then that would beg the question of which state wasn’t getting back as much to pay for the overage) as it pays in federal taxes, in the form of federal outlays.

The purpose of federal taxes is not to get them back in benefits to the state in proportion to the taxes paid. In fact, that would be impossible, since just the overhead costs of sending them to Washington and back would dictate that the total amount going back to the states would have to be less than that sent to Washington. It also ignores the funding that’s sent overseas (embassies, military activities, foreign aid, etc.) that can’t be spent in any of the fifty states. So when California insists on getting back all one hundred cents of its federal tax dollar, it’s really saying that at least some, if not all other states should get less.

I’ve got an idea. Instead of state officials lobbying to get the gummint to spend money in their states, howzabout they lobby to reduce federal taxes, so that the people who live in the states have more money to spend on their own states, and don’t have to rely on benefactors in Washington to pay for their police departments and womens’ shelters after skimming their umpteen percent off the top?