The sequester and other ridiculous things

So it’s looking unlikely that Washington will do anything to prevent the sequester, the automatic spending cuts put in place to try to force Washington to find a way forward on spending, from starting to take effect tomorrow. The president and congressional leaders will meet tomorrow to discuss next steps.

Hardly anyone likes the sequester—it was designed to be disliked—but no one has the right combination of power and incentives to simply repeal it, either. House Republicans have passed a bill before that would replace the sequester’s defense cuts with even bigger cuts to domestic spending, but it's not clear that it could pass now even in the House. The Senate hasn’t passed anything, though Democrats have proposed a plan that would channel domestic cuts primarily toward farm bill reforms that Congress couldn’t get done last year.

If you think the sequester standoff sounds like a ridiculous way to make farm policy, agribusiness lobbyists and their congressional allies agree. But the whole thing’s ridiculous: the general obsession with budget deficits, the pattern of governing from one fabricated showdown to the next, the political disincentives for meaningful compromise.