Die PBS Die
OK, I don't really want PBS to die. I watch PBS every night: NewsHour is the best news on American TV. And my family watches some educational programming on PBS. And I enjoy some of the documentaries and other news programming, often weekly.
But so what? I also watch SportsCenter and The Daily Show every day, but I don't want my tax dollars to go to them. We watch Noggin every day, and pay $2.40 per year (on top of our basic DirecTV package, not including sales tax, and really more than that, since we don't watch most of the other channels in the package, so it is probably more like $5) to do so.
This has nothing to do with any particular bias of PBS shows. Sure, they lean left in a great many cases. But I couldn't care less about that. If PBS were all right-wing, I would feel the same way. This is about a. the fact that the Constitution neither expresses nor implies the power of Congress to pay for public broadcasting, and b. the fact that commercially viable worthwhile programming is everywhere and can be funded if people really want to see it.
There are supposedly 90 million weekly PBS viewers. The budget of PBS is supposedly being cut by $100 million. So each viewer just needs to pay $1.11 to make up the entire shortfall for next year. $2 would give a huge boost in their bottom line. Two measly dollars. If you are unwilling to give $2 to PBS, I can't believe you really care about it.
I don't pay anything to PBS because my tax money goes to it. The moment the PBS budget is cut, I will send in a check for $20 to PBS, covering me, my family, and a bunch of other people who maybe really are unable to pay.
But so what? I also watch SportsCenter and The Daily Show every day, but I don't want my tax dollars to go to them. We watch Noggin every day, and pay $2.40 per year (on top of our basic DirecTV package, not including sales tax, and really more than that, since we don't watch most of the other channels in the package, so it is probably more like $5) to do so.
This has nothing to do with any particular bias of PBS shows. Sure, they lean left in a great many cases. But I couldn't care less about that. If PBS were all right-wing, I would feel the same way. This is about a. the fact that the Constitution neither expresses nor implies the power of Congress to pay for public broadcasting, and b. the fact that commercially viable worthwhile programming is everywhere and can be funded if people really want to see it.
There are supposedly 90 million weekly PBS viewers. The budget of PBS is supposedly being cut by $100 million. So each viewer just needs to pay $1.11 to make up the entire shortfall for next year. $2 would give a huge boost in their bottom line. Two measly dollars. If you are unwilling to give $2 to PBS, I can't believe you really care about it.
I don't pay anything to PBS because my tax money goes to it. The moment the PBS budget is cut, I will send in a check for $20 to PBS, covering me, my family, and a bunch of other people who maybe really are unable to pay.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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