Dear Mr. President,
Congratulations on getting elected to office. You have a lot of tasks, but I want you to look at one important one: Public Television. Many people did not know there was an issue with public television until the presidential debates. And I believe public television should not be funded by the federal government.
Public television clouds the important issues at stake and should be quickly denied funding. The PBS twitter page says that, “PBS is trusted, valued and essential. See why at valuepbs.org…” Saying that public television is essential may be stretching the truth.
The use of public television has dropped in years and should not be funded heavily when there are bigger issues at stake. Over the last 18 years, there have been pledged loyal viewers that watch PBS. Now they may have a contract about to expire.
“Friends are like television. Some are like PBS and always asking for money. Others are like the news, with sad tales to tell every day, some are like that one station with the foreign language; you don't understand a word of it but you listen and watch.” An unknown quote, but has powerful meaning and is very factual and humorous as well.
Governor Mitt Romney, who ran for president, said, "I'm sorry Jim, I'm gonna stop the subsidy to PBS," to moderator Jim Lehrer, who has worked for PBS since the 1970s. "I like PBS, I love Big Bird, I actually like you too, but I'm going to stop borrowing money from China to pay for things we don't need." Mitt Romney has a valid point. We don’t have to pay for things we do not need.
Four-hundred, forty-five million dollars is spent towards public television and public radio stations. This is under 1% of the national spending. But it is still a significant amount going towards a dying cause. Romney also stated “The people from ‘Sesame Street’ have made it clear that Big Bird is quite profitable, and he doesn’t need the government subsidy.” Sesame Street makes a lot of money off other endorsements and extra money is not needed. Big Bird will survive without federal funding.
You should take my request into quick consideration and then act on. Public television does not deserve the funding and can the money can be used in better ways. You can make a change in this country for the better. Hopefully you can take this into consideration.
Sincerely,
Jack P.