Does anybody else remember the game Hammurabi?

It is an ancient ancestor of games like Civilization -- in it, you had just a few choices, along the lines of how many of the grain bags in your storehouse you would plant versus use to feed your people (update: screenshot!). You always wanted to plant or spend it, but quickly learned that not feeding your people was a poor long-term strategy, even with morality left out of the equation, as people would leave your city for those that treated them better, die, or possibly lead a revolt.

Apparently simple lessons like that are lost on Republican legislators, who are voting to cut food stamps and school lunches, even as hunger has risen hugely under their watch. I'm telling you, build all the cities you want, launch all the wars, but if your people desert you, the game is done.