I am a mother of young babies who are devoted to Elmo and his Sesame Street friends, so please believe me when I say: listen to Mitt Romney, it’s time to defund Sesame Street and its alphabet soup parent, PBS.
The Left is already starting with its “Mitt Romney hates Big Bird” narrative across social media. The narrative serves to deflect from the woefully abysmal (and I’m not sure there are any more pitiful adjectives to describe last night’s Presidential debates unless you insert an emoticon of a man thumping his chest in despair) debate performance of the President. Already, photo-like theses are starting to emerge (like they did in 1995 and 2005 when the Republican led Congresses ruffled feathers (eh-hem) trying to defund PBS).
Please. Sesame Street may be based in a fictitious inner city, but its balance sheet is more in line with the “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” clan than the family from “Good Times.” Sesame Street is a multi-million dollar international brand and, as the Whoopie Goldberg voiceovers tell us when the show first comes on, it is shown in over 140 countries. The kiddie T.V. juggernaut’s 2009 990 tax forms show it rakes in over $140 million in revenues a year. And only 10% of that is from the government. Even without government funding, Sesame Street has as much a chance of dying out as Coca Cola does.
And here’s why: Because it adds value. Just ask any mom. When you absolutely need to get something done and your children refuse to be anything other than children, Sesame Street is gold. Unlike most children’s television which lasts only 24 minutes, Sesame Street lasts a full hour. I may be speaking too broadly here, but there is no dollar limit a woman would pay to have her children entranced by Elmo for a full sixty minutes so she can get something done. Sesame is educational too. It’s one of the few shows we moms can put on and feel like we’re doing something good for our children. Plus, Elmo is adorable. It’s a win all around.
That “win” and “added value” are what liberals don’t get. I believe Mitt Romney loves Big Bird and so do I. I imagine we are not the only two. It is the Leftists, however, who feel the need to institutionalize and spread across society all that they deem good and valuable. It is the marketplace’s, not the government’s, job and natural function to determine what the value of something is.
It’s important to remember here, Sesame Street doesn’t need us (the taxpayers) but many of us, especially us moms, need them. So let Big Bird put on those Big (bird) Boy pants and leave the nest (although, he is entitled to stay in the nest and get government mandated healthcare from his parents until he is 26) and head into the free markets to thrive or fail by his own volition. What a surprise it will be for Leftists to see Big Bird thrive on his own without government and see what real free enterprise can build.
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