Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) has once again proposed legislation to defund CPB and NPR and to stop public radio stations from using federal funds to purchase programs or pay NPR dues.
An announcement on Lamborn’s website Thursday said the U.S. Constitution “does not grant the federal government the authority to subsidize media programming.”
“Recent programming” on PBS “offended many conservative and religious taxpayers who do not want the children inculcated with liberal viewpoints on sensitive topics,” Lamborn said in the announcement. Last month, the PBS Kids program Arthur included a gay wedding, which Alabama Public Television declined to air.
H.R.3393 seeks to amend the Communications Act to halt federal support of CPB after fiscal year 2021. H.R.3392 would prohibit any federal money for NPR, including dues from stations.
Co-sponsoring the legislation are Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.).
Lamborn has proposed similar bills annually since 2007, except in the 114th Congress in 2015–16. None have passed into law. Lamborn’s 2011 proposal to block funds for NPR passed the House but did not come up for a vote in the Senate. His 2010 proposal to do the same was voted down in the House.
“To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical,” -Thomas Jefferson
You might want to continue with the rest of that quote, since it largely invalidates your point: “that even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor whose morals he would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness;”
Jefferson was speaking specifically of religious freedom, and against the establishment of an official religion of the colonies.
https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/virginia-statute-religious-freedom
What’s that saying about doing the same thing, over and over, and expecting a different result, is considered “insanity”?
“The freedom of speech of private individuals includes the right to not agree, not to listen, and not to finance one’s own antagonists.” – Ayn Rand
Ah yes, the same Ayn Rand who campaigned against the public funding of just about everything, but still had to make use of Medicare in her old age to cover her costs. Why? Because she had become one of the inadequate masses who had not saved enough to survive on. I don’t think we’ll listen to her advice since she unequivocally proved herself wrong.
No public station that I listen to or view has offered anything considered offensive. I can see where airing a gay weddings on a kids show could be objectionable but that doesn’t mean we throw the baby out with the bath water. NPR and CPB media offer balanced reporting. Just because they don’t offer a conservative slant does not mean they are therefore offering a liberal slant. The problem is some of our most vocal conservatives believe if they are not getting an advantage then why even let it exist. The bills are obviously politically biased. Federal funds are only a small fraction of public media but essential to their operating budget. Public broadcasting was born out of the right reasons to simply educate the public without a political agenda. Conservative radio programs are all over the dial, I don’t know of any, outside of satellite radio offering so-called liberal programs. We need to protect public media not destroy it.
I currently run one of those conservative stations, and cut my teeth on an NPR and CPB college station. While I don’t always agree with their viewpoints, they provide content and the ability for non-commercial stations to exist. Programmers have the right to choose their shows and the content they air…Lord knows, I have dumped my fair share of idiots who want to break the rules from my airwaves. The First Ammendment guarantees the right to freedom of speech…your mind guarantees the right to make up your own mind about what you hear and see. Choose the voice You hear and let the gongs and clanging cymbals continue, knowing that someone is learning this business at one of those NPR/CPB stations.
Defund NPR. As a private org, I support its right to do anything it wants, including being the mouthpiece of a liberal movement. That is guaranteed by our Constitution. But with public funds: no, not on my dime.