If President Obama were to end outright ALL direct cash subsidies to farmers, then we indeed would owe him a debt of gratitude for his wisdom, courage, and skill in ending such a corrupt and ossified program. The last time George W. Bush tried it, farm state Senators — both Democratic and Republican — brought out all the Depression-era rhetoric about “family farmers” and “national security” for their subsidized corporate clients, and we got nothing. If Obama continues the program and just adds means testing, it will simply remain a boondoggle and morph back into what it was in no time. (Remember how farm subsidies started.)