A Leash of Decency for the Blue Dogs

The Sunday, November 25th Washington Post editorial poses a vital question for taxpayers: "Is limiting federal subsidies to farmers with incomes over $750,000 dollars unreasonable?" It is a commentary on the latest farm subsidy and loans proposed legislative raid on the treasury. The well-targeted editorial argument ends with a challenging and provocative statement: "For a Democratic Congress eager to restore a modicum of balance to the distribution of income in America, this should be a very easy call."

Calling all Democrats. Decent members arise; you have nothing to lose but your fog of confusion. Shake off the chains of Blue Dog deception and seduction. Exorcise from your midst the legal racketeering tumor that drains precious blood from our safety nets. If this is not an "easy call" please explain to the voters the way in which a cancer controlled by the Blue Dog Coalition, a House Legislative Service Organization, has metastasized within our House of Representatives and now causes a paralysis which prevents any logical and reasonable response to this obvious fiscal atrocity.

Just the few well-focused facts contained in the Washington Post summary expose the obscene story:

- Crop subsidies are not a safety net for the hard-pressed denizens of Farm Country.

- On paper no one is allowed more than $360,000 dollars per year but the provision is riddled with loopholes.

- Two-thirds of all crop subsidies go to just 10 percent of farms.

- The House version of the farm bill would allow full-time farming households earning as much as two million dollars per year to collect payments.

The prosecution could offer mountains more of facts and evidence against the farm giveaways and their Blue Dog Coalition sponsors. It should be noted that every president from Ronald Reagan to the present George W. Bush has publicly expressed great discomfort with the farm legislative swindles - but no president has expended enough executive power to prevent the Blue Dogs from prevailing year after year. What they are unable to get in subsidies and loans they get in drought relief or rain relief.

Who are these Blue Dogs? Why are they the most powerful caucus in the Congress? Be advised that two of their Democratic founders were so conservative that they voted even for the impeachment of President Clinton. They are so clever that, despite their long-term demonization of the poor and Civil Rights, they now have four members of the Congressional Black Caucus in their ranks. This is the body that sponsored Harold Ford III's challenge to Nancy Pelosi when she ran for Minority Leader. So many members have been clamoring to get in that the Blue Dogs now operate like an Ivy League fraternity. You must be sponsored by five members and you must write an essay to achieve membership.

In other words, the horror of the facts of the farm program waste can never be understood without examining the power of the agricultural industrial complex which has its center of command in the Blue Dog Coalition. Their ability to direct donations is one of their major weapons. CBC members now huddled in the kennel with the dogs justify their presence by citing the need to support initiatives that benefit their home Southern States. Never mind the fact that the Civil Rights struggles and the Voting Rights Legislation was necessary in order to overcome the hostile opposition of these same States to Black representation. Overlooked is the sabotage of ten years ago when a settlement related to discrimination by the Department of Agriculture and its local credit committees was put in place but not implemented. The 100 million dollars promised then to Black farmers who had been bankrupted by racist federal loan practices is now being offered again to make CBC members happy.

The Blue Dogs must be congratulated for their stamina and their public relations creativity. Like the ladies of the evening they wear glittering clothing bright with slogans against big government and waste. They seduce those whose constituencies they have demonized. They are the descendants of the Boll Weevils who practice tradeoffs and blackmail with either party. When the deliberately prolonged appropriation races end, the Blue Dogs usually trot away panting but with substantial increases.

The Washington Post has alerted us to another phase of what has become an almost permanent federal fiscal disaster. To understand which actions are necessary to assist the decent members of congress in their quest to achieve "a very easy call" please don't search for more statistics. Study the internal deliberations of the Congress and the awesome machinations of the Blue Dog Coalition.

Comments

[deminmo]

How many of the "family farms" have seed corn
company money coming in? The rual true farmer
can't compete with the coporate farmer. And
they aren't the ones coming near caps. How about
keeping those hard working folks in business and
on their farms?

[Balzac]

A leash isn't enough for the Blue Dogs.

They need to be cooked up Korean style and served with Kim Chee.

[therealredstateblues]

Farm subsidies are socialism for the wealthy and corporate welfare.

There may have been a time that they were intended to help the family farmer, but that time has long gone past and the special interests got ahold of them

They either need to be reformed to actually help the small time farmer, or done away with altogether.

As democrats we should be appalled at this corporate welfare scheme

[scooperss]

I've been to a web site where it shows just how much farms collect and I was shocked. These aren't all family farms, some are BIG business and they get SERIOUS money from the government. I was outraged then and I'm still outraged. It's still more corporate welfare when it isn't needed.

[OurTalkingStick]

In my view the compromises with the "cultural;" south the Democratic leadership, in Congress, the National and State Parties have made are equivalent to those the Whigs made with the slave holding states. Sadly I see no reason to expect a different outcome for this one time home of a rational theory for governing, social conscience and genuine service to country (not blood sacrifice).

The disgraceful Blue Dog Coalition is an open secret in the South. The retros who populate the GOP have minimal concern with party labels. (In fact they change them with the speed of a cross dresser on Saturday night.)

The concern in both party establishments is with erasing any vestiges of "Liberalism," wherever it may be found. Actions and rhetoric promote entitlement according to race, militarism and neglect of the poor.

To note a few examples: The water crisis due to primarily to thoughtless and unrestrained development is in the news. Latest studies show that over half the school children in Georgia live in poverty and 30-50% will not graduate
high school. Also thanks to the presidential veto most will lose access to medical care.

There will be little change from this unless sufficient numbers of populist progressive Democrats to enfeeble the Blue Dogs are elected to the Congress.

Electing a president less intimate with the DLC and big business than Hillary Clinton or Barak Obama would help also.

[janmB]

I'm all for subsizing farms because I have seen too many small farmers just in my area sell out after a bad year. That has increased the prices and affected the quality of produce we are now getting.
OF COURSE --the gentlemen farmers as spoken of should never be given subsidies. Often they only keep the bare-minimum the law requires for them to get this gov't help.
These wealthy slobs aren't ashamed of taking govt money ---but yet want the people who really need help who are on welfare programs to be ashamed of the help they get.

[Purple Girl]

The Family owned Farm does not exist, and it is certainly not part of the 10% that gets any $ from the Gov't.
Industrial Ag is the 'welfare' recipient to these mega dollars.
These Industrial farms have done more than steal land and livlihoods, it wrecks havoc on our envirnoment and endangers our food supply.Not to mention the 'assembly' line mentality that leads to animal cruelity and contagious dieases.
To add salt to the wound- they don't even distribute all food produced- mush is wasted to drive the prices up. people are still underfed & starving.
The only thing industrialized Agriculture has done is creat more profit for the multinational Corporationists .Also need to include the use of illegals so avoid paying US any decent wages. They've got US by the Balls just like the Oil Co's.

[BinBaldwin]

How can you complain about BLUE DOGS when you are a member of a Congressional Caucas that only allows members based on the color of their skin and not who they represent? Yes a White Congressman with a black constituency was denied membership. So who is the Caucas all about? The people? Or Black Congressmen and their arrogance?

Why complain about Blue Dogs when you sold your soul to WIN big in 2006 by electing many conservative Democrats?

[BARRISTER]

And they accuse theEuropean Governments of Unfair Trade Practices for subsidising Airbus??

[LiarLiarIraqsOnFire]

I'm all for farm subsidies to Family Farmers. It's the Corporate Farms should not recieve one plug nickle from the American Tax-payer.

Part of the problem is statements like this -- The House version of the farm bill would allow full-time farming households earning as much as two million dollars per year to collect payments. -- Sure their INCOME is 2 Mil, but it's NOT 2 Mil in profits. It's 2 Mil - cost of seed & fertilizer (BigAg has to get it's cut), fuel to run the equipment (800 HP John Deers don't have solar panels), maintenence & upkeep of equipment (do you have any idea how much it costs to refurbish the engine in a combine?) & physical facillities and livestock farmers have Vet's bills like you wouldn't believe.

[Ides]

The greatest Blue Dog Democrat of them all...Hillary Clinton. I wonder how long before people wake up and realize what she would do as soon as she got into office.

[clintonius]

Yeah, Joe Donnelly (D-IN) from my bassackwards district is a member...shock! AND HE TENDS TO AGREE WITH KING GEORGE AN AWFUL LOT. The fascist right wing is bad, but the snakes who call themselves one thing, and do another are in a whole different league of scum. Donnelly tops my list of our nations sellouts.

Here's the rest of them:

Mike Arcuri (New York)
Joe Baca (California)
John Barrow (Georgia)
Melissa Bean (Illinois)
Marion Berry (Arkansas)
Sanford Bishop (Georgia)
Dan Boren (Oklahoma)
Leonard Boswell (Iowa)
Allen Boyd (Florida), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Administration
Dennis Cardoza (California)
Christopher Carney (Pennsylvania)
Ben Chandler (Kentucky)
Jim Cooper (Tennessee)
Jim Costa (California)
Bud Cramer (Alabama)
Lincoln Davis (Tennessee)
Joe Donnelly (Indiana)
Brad Ellsworth (Indiana)
Gabrielle Giffords (Arizona)
Kirsten Gillibrand (New York)
Bart Gordon (Tennessee)
Jane Harman (California)
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (South Dakota), Blue Dog Whip
Baron Hill (Indiana)
Tim Holden (Pennsylvania)
Steve Israel (New York)
Nick Lampson (Texas)
Tim Mahoney (Florida)
Jim Marshall (Georgia)
Jim Matheson (Utah)
Mike McIntyre (North Carolina)
Charlie Melancon (Louisiana)
Mike Michaud (Maine)
Dennis Moore (Kansas), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy
Patrick Murphy (Pennsylvania)
Collin Peterson (Minnesota)
Earl Pomeroy (North Dakota)
Mike Ross (Arkansas), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Communications
John Salazar (Colorado)
Loretta Sanchez (California)
Adam Schiff (California)
David Scott (Georgia)
Heath Shuler (North Carolina)
Zack Space (Ohio)
John Tanner (Tennessee)
Gene Taylor (Mississippi)
Mike Thompson (California)
Charlie Wilson (Ohio)

[gregrocker]

Why don't we use the actual word that describes "blue dogs' instead of their silly euphemism: REDNECKS. The rest of the world looks on in horror as morbidly obese rednecks took America down to the status of a pariah nation. And the Democratic party wants to include them in its coalition? NOT! We should run against their fat asses, educating a whole new generation of voters in how they have dragged this country down the drain for 250 years, first with slavery, then raising every subsequent generation in race resentment, retrograde caveman ghoulishness like lynching and the electric chair. They offer nothing to this country except reversing civilized society, which is earned through the taxes we pay but which they want to dodge. Run against them, and then let them form their own country since we are finished as a whole anyway thanks to them.

[Mack20]

Come on guys. A little opposition makes life interesting. I"m willing to be a punching bag if you"ll let me. Let"s try this again:

Sounds like sour grapes to me. If you represented a mostly rural district with lots of farmers, your take on this would be different. Truth is the democrats have the majority in Congress but are far from running it. The blue dogs have had to band together for self-preservation while you and Nancy and the rest of the liberals try to strong arm them into voting on a radical leftist agenda. Don"t forget they are representative just like you and have to answer to their constituents. I"m sorry you don"t agree with these people. The fact they have a "D" after their name must really be confusing.

[zull2]

The number one thing that motivates Blue Dogs to vote along with the Republicans is a pure sense of fear. They're afraid they won't be re-elected if they can be called out in their next election by an opponent who can paint them as "too extreme" or "not moderate enough".

The guy they should really look to for inspiration is Paul Wellstone. He ran for office successfully when the mainstream was lurching to the right (including his voting base in Minnesota...remember Jesse Ventura?) and had an opponent that grossly hammered him for being an avowed liberal. Wellstone's reply, one that few Democrats at the time was brave enough to repeat, was that he was a proud liberal and didn't care about those attacks. He knew in his heart that his ideals were right and in the best interest of his constituents, and his constituents for the most part understood that. He turned those attacks right back at his opponents and won. He wasn't rich, he wasn't a pretty face, but he was genuine and he didn't put his finger in the wind with every vote.