This quote from Texas Republican Congressman Randy Neugebauer during the debate on the federal agriculture appropriation recently struck me as emblematic of an intractable systemic problem as well as the major reason his party is no longer in the majority: “When you step back and look at it, less than one-half of one penny of each tax dollar goes to agriculture programs.” The article in which he was quoted went on to say that his district has received $1.23 billion in taxpayer money from 2003-2005. Here in a nutshell is the basic principle of the unabated growth of government—a small incremental contribution spread over a large population that provides significant funding benefiting a small but powerful vested interest.