GOP villainy uncontained? –Robert M. Shelby, 3-18-11. [924 txt wds]

Suddenly, Republican agenda is revealed in a new meaning for the party’s name: Republicanism now means, REplace the PUBLIC with AN ISM amounting to a false image and representation of that public sector and its interests which will be made totally and exclusively subservient to the private sector’s corporate interests! We don’t need to hear what pseudo-conservatives and radically far-right zombies say. All their talk fits into this newly programmatic definition clearly shown above. So, then, we easily see what the temporary House majority really intends by defunding NPR.

 

Well, GOP villainy is not quite uncontained. The Senate will plug up the House’s champaign bottle until November 2012 when we will see what happens to the GOP’s hopes. Moreover, President Obama will withhold his signature. So, Republicans, you can just keep walking around in the darkness you try to spread over the nation until at last you are blinded by a blasting revelation of how the American majority really feels.

 

A good reference here would be to Huffington Post’s 3-18-11 piece by Robert Creamer:

<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/why-the-republicans-hate_b_837481.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=031811&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BlogEntry&utm_term=Daily+Brief>

 

The Miami Herald quoted Patrick Butler, president of the Public Media Association that represents public television stations and NPR, as saying:

 

“The only result would be the loss of thousands of jobs in this industry, the closing or severe restriction of hundreds of local stations serving small-town and rural America which depend on federal funds for 30 (percent) to 100 percent of their annual budgets, including program acquisition, and the loss of vital information for millions of Americans.”

 

Here are a few  selected quotes from Creamer’s article trying to answer why the radical House Republicans seem to hate NPR.

 

“Rather than reconsider their belief that the public sector can never do anything as well as private corporations, their first reaction is to kill the successful ventures that disprove rightwing ideological orthodoxy. …

 

“Second, the Republicans hate the idea that NPR is drawing listeners from stations owned by corporations like Clear Channel. They are all about ‘competition’ until private corporations have to compete with public sector ventures that can provide superior services for less money and don’t have to pay millions in profits to satisfy their corporate task masters. But, you say, the private radio stations don’t get ‘public subsidies.’ … by setting up public radio, the people of America provided an option to listeners that relied upon a small number of tax dollars, so it would not have to be dependent on constant commercials — and on the tyranny of the corporate bottom line.

 

“NPR is all about maximizing the quality of the news coverage for its own sake. The founders of NPR bet that there was a huge audience for that kind of commercial-free, serious journalism that could enhance the level of knowledge and information available to everyday Americans. They were right.

 

“At its heart, NPR is an educational institution. It was born out of the same philosophy that brought America public education for everyone. Thomas Jefferson and America’s other founders believed in public education because it leads to a more highly-educated and prosperous country — a more informed electorate and a more vital democracy. It was a decision that — probably more than any other — led America to become the most prosperous country on earth, and its longest-lasting democracy.

 

“Third, Republicans want to kill NPR because it presents high quality, unbiased, factually accurate news. These qualities do not sit well with people who want the Rupert Murdoch’s and Fox News’s of the world to control what the public has the right to hear. They think unbiased news coverage is subversive.

 

“Fourth, the Republicans in the House wanted to attack NPR to throw some red meat to the Tea Party portion of its base.

 

“What the heck, if you refuse to do anything about jobs — the subject that most Americans really care about — give them side-shows and circuses. Go after the “Chablis and brie” set that they characterize as the average NPR listener. Trouble is, there [is] a world of people of every type, everywhere, that are devoted to NPR. The Republicans might think they are whipping up enthusiasm among their base by their attack on NPR. In fact they are once again ignoring one of the foremost rules of politics: you really make people mad when you take away something they value.”

 

Creamer concludes: “One more week has passed without the Republicans lifting a finger to create one job in America. Instead they busied themselves passing legislation to destroy several thousand more broadcasting jobs at the NPR affiliate near you.”

 

And I conclude, Well, there you have it. Republicans hate any democracy they don’t own outright. Knowing from their own, preciously revered Founding Fathers that democracy depends on a well-informed electorate consisting of people educated enough to evaluate arguments, weigh evidence critically and analyze rhetorical presentations for what they really mean, Republicans want to gut public education, defund anything that serves the public, including news and entertainment which they want to dumb down, emotionalize and trivialize, and subject everyone to bombardment by consumer advertizing and propaganda.

 

I’m not having it and you’re not, either. That’s why the 2012 election will bury the zombies as they deserve, no matter how much they spend on hoopla and smoke. They have nobody smart enough to fool enough of the people again for as long as it will take! Lincoln was nothing like today’s corporation-loving extremists posing as Republicans. Teddy Roosevelt saw right through ‘em and gave ‘em a strenuous life!

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