Ag Subsidies

What appears below is a piece of an email that I sent in to a particular Member of Congress via a staffer. Since I'm actually interested hearing answers, I've decided to reformat the message a little bit and reprint it here...

I've tried to get Republicans who represent agricultural districts to answer this before and have gotten nowhere, so the bar isn't too high here...

Correct me if I am wrong, but farm subsidies keep the price of American-grown food artificially lower...right? How is that not socialism? So why do Republican congresscritters...and conservative ones at that...support it? Isn't there a free-market approach to this? Shouldn't the price of food go up if that is what it really costs? And why shouldn't America buy food overseas if it is cheaper? (I have an answer to that one, but it isn't a fiscally conservative answer, but rather a national security answer.)

The road to corporate welfare was paved on the path of agricultural subsidies. I'm all for a safety net, but let's not kid each other these dollar amounts don't represent a safety net but rather a lifestyle. When a family or business (or in this case, both) relies on the government in order to maintain their lifestyle, that is no longer a safety net program that we have, but rather a means of keeping that demographic at the government trough.

There has to be a better way...

So...what do you think?