Reauthorization or Reconciliation: Thoughts on the Farm Bill’s Prospects

Making do with metaphor, leaning on figurative language is common in politics and policy for a variety of reasons that more-often-than-not boil down to communicating complex or difficult matters (see e.g., Lakoff, 2014; Bedford, 2020; Thibodeau and Boroditsky, 2011; Schlesinger and Lau, 2000; Read et al., 2009; Lakoff, 1986). Songs are another area of frequent interaction with metaphors. The annals of American music are crowded with great songs and vivid lyrics about gambling and gamblers, for example, to convey matters of life, death, loss, and more. Probably the first song that comes to most minds is “The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers, but great examples can be found across all genres of music, especially the blues (“The Dyin’ Crapshooter’s Blues” by Blind Willie McTell; “Gambler’s Blues” by B.B. King (or Lightnin’ Hopkins); and “Blackjack” by Ray Charles), country (“The Race Is On,” by George Jones; “Kentucky Gambler,” by Merle Haggard; and “Queen of Hearts,” by Juice Newton), and, of course, rock-and-roll (“Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” by Jim Croce; “House of the Rising Sun,” by The Animals; “Tumbling Dice” by The Rolling Stones, “Deal,” by the Grateful Dead; “Atlantic City,” by Bruce Springsteen; and “Casino Queen” by Wilco). Having just come through a contentious election season, deploying metaphors may help reason with our collective experiment in self-government. The discussion that follows offers an outlook on Farm Bill reauthorization—and maybe a window into larger issues on the horizon—that works through gambling and other metaphors. Readers are advised to queue up a playlist of gambling songs to make tolerable the mixing of many metaphors and possibly help mask any bitter medicine in the discussion.