Mitt and Big Bird

I learned today that one of Mitt Romney's deficit cutting plans is to eliminate Federal funding from Sesame Street. Here's what he said on Radio Iowa yesterday:

"There are programs that I like, like PBS—I mean, my grandkids watch PBS, they like to watch Sesame Street. You know, I just don't think we can afford to borrow money from China to pay for things we absolutely don't have to do. So in the case of PBS, I'd tell them to get advertisers or more contributors, but the government is not going to pick up the bill by borrowing money."


This is not a new position apparently. Back in December he reportedly said:

"We're not going to kill Big Bird," Romney said. "But Big Bird is going to have advertisements. Alright?


Advertisements? So, one of the great shows ever created for children, in which education and entertainment converged in the best possible way will, in Romney's world, be supported by advertising. With all that good stuff we want our kids to have - Lucky Charms, Froot Loops (no "Fruit" in those "Loops"), Mattel, McDonalds and all the other usual suspects. What will be next, product placement (oops, shows how old I am -- I mean "embedded marketing")? Will Burt and Ernie do their thing while eating Big Macs? Will Cookie Monster move from generic cookies to Oreos?

What's at stake here? Annual Federal funding for all of PBS is about $445 million. With the Federal budget at about $3.6 trillion that's 0.13% (a little more than one-tenth of one percent). And, that's for all PBS, not just Sesame Street.

Romney's position shouldn't be surprising since it's in keeping with the standard right wing posture: cut budgets of activities supported by the left: arts, education, social welfare, etc. while maintaining conservative favorites: defense, tax cuts for the rich, corporate tax breaks and the like.

The irony of course, particularly given the Bain discussion this week, is that while he claims that we can't continue "borrowing money from China, to pay for things we absolutely don't have to do", his actions at Bain helped to contribute to the wealth in China that has given them the means to lend us money now.

You're wrong about one other thing, Mr. Romney. Sesame Street and PBS specifically, and the arts and education generally, are things we absolutely have to have. These are the kinds of things that make our society great. And part of the role of government should be to help ensure that our society remains great.

I've got to believe Mr. Rogers is turning over in his grave over this one.