Started on a posted link I put on Facebook:

Alan McBee

 

This is the sort of crap stunt that gives Republicans a bad name.

 



Tell Congress: Don't pull the plug on NPR and PBS!

act.credoaction.com

In a recently released budget proposal, House Republicans announced plans to zero out all funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the nonprofit responsible for funding...

 

I signed one of those online petition things at http://www.credoaction.com/. Apparently, somebody thought they could Save America From Epic Budget Disaster by killing off the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

There was an opportunity to add my own comment. I did.

Are you kidding?! I would call this one of the ultimate "Anti-American" acts I could conceive. Without NPR and PBS, we would have news from only commercial interests, where it's clear that big money rules the news -- whatever brings in the advertising, that's what makes the news. That's not American capitalism at it's finest; it's sheer lunacy to think that reporters can bring tough and honest news stories when they have to help deliver quarterly profit reports to shareholders. It's the NEWS that keeps our three-power system of government balanced. It's the EDUCATION that allows voters to keep our country stable and growing. Or, is that actually what the Republicans are afraid would happen? Better to have a spoon-fed constituency?...

 

A friend of mine said something very funny on Facebook. It was a bitingly sarcastic comment about Republican hypocrisy. I wanted to respond, but I’m afraid she might take it personally. I was going to say this:

I think you've overcomplicated it. Republicans can do no wrong. Democrats are evil because they are not Republicans. Never criticize a Republican because Republicans are American and therefore your criticism is anti-American.

And... that's not entirely fair to my actual Republican friends and family, who I know (seriously) are not like that. I'm actually not a Democrat either. Would it be fair to say that Democrats stereotype Republicans as hypocritical, sophistic, and myopic, without considering whether there were merits to their views -- that Democrats are (gasp!) elitist, and won’t address their own errors for all the time they spend pointing out Republican flaws?

I wonder when we will all decide to start being Americans instead of trying to find the motes in our...