I just heard that the House subcommittee decided to cut funding for PBS and NPR, and voted to eventually eliminate funding for public broadcasting all together. While I think that it is important to have public broadcasting, and think that it is essential for learning and development in an “open forum”, I think that there is more to this issue than simply getting rid of PBS and NPR.
First let me say this, so I can get it out of the way: I don’t want to get rid of NPR or PBS, and I think that the cookie monster should stay on TV and get to eat as many cookies as he wants (I still don’t think that the cookie monster is blame for kids being fat). Good, now with that being said, I can say this: If they are cutting this funding to create money to go towards other more important programs, what is the big deal???
BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAIT A MINUTE!!!
Well, that would be fine IF those “more important” programs were not under funded ANYWAY because of superfluous, and down right excessive government spending on certain other things. It is amazing that Bush was able to blow a government surplus as fast as he did, not to mention rack up such an impressive deficit… it is like a kid getting a hold of his parents credit cards and buying an entire toys R us. So, there are more problems here than: “just taking the money and reallocating it to more important programs”.
This idea is present in this article in the Washington post:
Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio), the subcommittee’s chairman, said “There are ‘must-do,’ ‘need-to-do’ and ‘nice-to-do’ programs that we have to pay for. [Public broadcasting] is somewhere between a ‘need-to-do’ and a ‘nice-to-do.'”
But, like I said, they are missing a huge point here: You are taking this money, because there is no where else to take it from. You under funded the “must-do’s”. They are not being done because of that under funding. The “need-to-do’s” have become the “we will get to those at some point’s”. And the “nice-to-do’s” have become the “next…”. So, all I can honestly say is this:
It is not just about taking funding away from public broadcasting. It just isn’t that simple. It is way bigger than that. And until they get that figured out, and fix that… there is no hope for Big Bird… The Iraq war may be what killed him, too.
…And don’t even get me started on how this is also probably the conservatives targeting the “liberal” media… UGH!