Two Observations on the Defunding of NPR

And a silly/sad personal note.

It finally happened . . . FINALLY! For decades, it was obvious that NPR and PBS no longer served its historic purposes and therefore should no longer receive federal funding.

Yet, even when Republicans controlled the White House and both houses of Congress, NPR and PBS kept on being sacred cows that fed at the federal trough . . . until now.

Thanks to President Trump and thanks to Republicans in Congress feeling the heat from him and the MAGA base and even many sensible people not in the base, NPR and PBS have finally been stripped of federal funding.

I could gloat. But I refuse to do so. Instead, I will point out two aspects of this joyous deletion that are being overlooked.

The first observation is not mine but Adrian Vermeule’s (For some reason, I cannot link it here. I will attempt to provide the link in the comments.):

What I find puzzling and interesting about NPR is the same thing, in miniature, that I find puzzling about liberalism in many contexts: the utter inability to impose limits on itself, even when the failure to do so is obviously self-destructive. If NPR had even pursued its ideological agenda merely to the 80% level, rather than essentially to a 100% level, it wouldn’t be in the position it is now. But they just couldn’t help themselves. It’s like a dictator who rigs the election at 100-0, rather than the far more plausible 75-25 or some such.

He’s right. If NPR’s diversity had been broader than Globalist Left to Marxist Left, it would not have provoked so many to press for its defunding. They could have at least tried a little harder to give the illusion of “all things considered.” But they could not help themselves. As Vermeule also points out, it’s like a university department that hires not a single Republican. It is like a tyrant not content with rigging elections enough to win, but instead rigs them to the point of absurdity.

This shows just how ideologically captured NPR is. And they put ideological purity above self-interest and federal funding. They were self-defeating. They couldn’t help themselves. They asked to be defunded.

But they had been asking to be defunded for years and years. Which leads to my second observation.

The defunding of NPR and also PBS is significant not because of its affect on the federal budget; it is miniscule. Nor because NPR and PBS will go away; they got only a fraction of their funds from the taxpayers and will survive even though they really don’t deserve to anymore.

One of the infuriating features of American governance under both parties since the New Deal is what was the seeming impossibility of eliminating federal programs. Ronald Reagan once quipped, “The closest thing to eternal life on earth is a Government program.” It is funny because it is too true.

So the sacred cows of NPR and PBS having the federal trough removed from them is significant indeed. It really is possible to reduce or even eliminate federal programs if there is the will to do so.

And, thanks to President Trump, there is the will to do so. And there is hope that the defunding of NPR and PBS is not just a happy aberration, but an indicator of a new era when government is more accountable to taxpaying citizens and less controlled by Globalist establishment elites.

Let us pray so, at least.

——

I’m not sure how much I will be writing next week. I had to make myself write the above.

I mentioned a roadrunner that distracted me with his antics in my latest podcast. Well, I have not seen him for a week and expect the worst. I know it may sound silly to some, but I was attached to him. A lot. Martin (Yes, I named him.) had become a wild pet really.

This is hard on me.

And then my schedule for the next ten days is rather busy. So if I don’t write much here, I hope you understand.