Choices

    This past Sunday I was talking with my mom on the phone (it was her birthday, didn’t want to mess that up).  Anyway she brought up that she had heard Mr. Romney wanted to stop funding PBS and she likes to watch it.   I could tell by her voice she was a bit concerned and needed some reassurance.  So I tried to put it in terms that would make it clear for her, put it in a way that brings the choice into everyday life of an average person. 

    I gave her a choice, she had to pay the rent, the utilities, and the cable T.V. bill every month but she only had enough money to pay two of them each month.  I asked her, what two would you pay?  Which one would you give up?  The choice was easy for her when I put it that way, of course she would give up cable T.V.   It was clear to her after she thought about it in a this or that train of thought.

    Now I get to go a bit more in-depth to paint a broader picture for her and I might as well share my views with everybody.

    For all of Mr. Obama and his team’s attempts to again create another victim that only he can charge in and rescue (Big Bird this time) they failed to give the full story.  First, just as a reminder, Big Bird is a fictional character nothing more.  PBS, NPR and the like are all just businesses. There may be a few people who are true believers that would work for these originations for free but the vast majority are there for one reason a paycheck!  A pay check without having to produce a viable self-standing product.  PBS is given $450,000,000 of taxpayer dollars each year.  The Sesames Street Brand itself is valued at $350,000,000 with an annual retail merchandizing market of $515,000,000. That’s a lot of Erne & Bert dolls and Big Bird coloring books being sold.  Take away government funding and I’ll bet you’ll still see Sesame Street on T.V.; it’s just too profitable of a brand.  (Side Note:  The Sesame Street received $1,000,000 grant from the stimulus fund as a job creation measure.  What did the American taxpayers get for their investment?  1.4 jobs, yes $1,000,000 created one and a half jobs.  I hope they weren’t Big Birds feather fluffers).    

     Will defunding of PBS balance the budget?  Hell no, but it’s a starting point. It’s a concept that a rational person would follow in their own life if they found themself in similar financial difficulties.  It’s time that we as a nation set realistic priorities!  What is important, what isn’t?  Do we as a nation starve the entire herd to indulge the sacred cows?  Every government program has its fans.  They think their favorite program should be continually funded above all others.  Mr. Romney stood as the clear thinking adult in the room, he gave a clear choice.  Its time we cut back on the niceties and remove the self-inflicted hindrances’ to economic recuperation and prosperity.  When we pull ourselves out of the financial pit that we’ve dug, the niceties’ will return (and sadly I’m sure the hindrances and bad habits will to).  But one thing is for sure if we don’t start taking the rational course Mr. Romney is charting, very, very soon we won’t have the niceties of PBS, NPR and so on, or the important and vital programs like Social Security,  Medicare or Medicade for long… 

    Will it be as simple as making a choice between two men?  Will it be a candidate that openly shows distain for America’s heritage, its institutions, its founding ideas, a candidate that promises a rosier tomorrow but no plan, only rhetoric of envy and distrust?  Or will we choose the candidate that values America’s heritage, its institutions, and its founding ideas, that offers the opportunity of a better future by working hard now and making the changes needed now?  If we choose to follow Mr. Romney’s and Mr. Ryan’s leadership our nation can and will turn the corner, leaving the economic decline of the past few years behind us.  We have an opportunity to reignite our nation’s potential, to again embrace our capabilities and once more truly be a glimmering light of freedom and prosperity that other nations will strive to emulate.  A nation that peoples of the world will want to be a part of.  Once more American exceptional can be worn as a badge of honor and pride.  Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan advocate a leaner, less intrusive government, not an absence of government but no more government for governments’ sake.  A lessening of regulations and restrictions again not an absence of regulations but at least they should be sensible.  Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan are offering us not the right to succeed, no one can do that.  They are offering us the opportunity to succeed.  But only if we as a nation are willing to make the hard choices.  Myself, I choose to work and sacrifice today, if its Big Bird so be it, all for a better future, not a better future for me but for the ones who will follow me, my children and someday their children.

November 6, 2012 the path will be chosen.

The TOMCAT