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A recent letter writer lamented that the Trump administration was looking to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Her sole reason for opposing this seemed to be that she and her husband love to watch PBS and listen to NPR. Aside from the appalling lack of mental acuity that suggests, I don't see what that has to do with anything.
There are lots of things people enjoy that the government isn't expected to pay for. It seems the height of greed or arrogance to think I should pay for your wants.
There are many reasons that the government should not be paying for television and radio stations. First and foremost, the Constitution does not allow it. There is no mention of entertainment in Article II Section 8. There is however, a prohibition on government interference with the press (media). With the possible exception of occasional public service announcements, government should have nothing to do with television or radio.
Even if you want to ignore the Constitution, there is the fact that public broadcasting is no longer needed (not that it ever was). Anything you can get from PBS or NPR can easily be found on another source, either broadcast or internet.
If you want to keep these entities, there is no reason you cannot support them with your own money, or that they cannot become commercially viable. If Masterpiece Theater is that important to you, you could sit through a Viagra commercial like the rest of us.
If you're worried about the kid's programming, don't. The CPB never produced any of that anyway. It was always produced by others and purchased by CPB. Much of it is now on other platforms, and schools which used to watch PBS in the classroom, now have much better material available on the internet.
There's really no good reason to continue funding these stations and with a national debt of $37Trillion, we need to cut some things and we can't afford to pay for your simple pleasures anymore.
PAUL RINKER
Montoursville
Submitted by Virtual Newsroom