Restore NPR & PBS funding

As a retired sociology professor who has studied right-wing movements, and as a deeply concerned and actively engaged constituent, I write to urge you to do all you can to restore full funding for PBS and NPR. Trump’s decision to end government support for these critical public resources is yet another telltale sign of fascism. Moreover, MAGA’s ultimately self-defeating allegiance to the selfish forces within the elitist 1% will doom our entire country’s economy. As you know, media sources like NPR and PBS, which broadcast important programming such as _Sesame Street_, are a critically needed institutional mechanism that helps to narrow the educational gap between low-income children and those in the middle and wealthy classes. Given the unequal access to preschool, K-12 public school funding, and college education, public broadcasting serves as a vital equalizer in providing at least some of the much needed educational support necessary for all of us to be contributing members of society. These forms of public media are also crucial for a healthy democracy and peaceful global cooperation, since they provide news and information based on legitimate, well-researched journalism. If we do not have an educated population that is knowledgeable about public affairs, world events, science, and the climate crisis, for instance, we are doomed to repeat shameful parts of our history, stoke the flames of war, and destroy our planet for future generations. Moreover, without media sources such as PBS and NPR, authoritarian and oligarchic cadres can far more easily destroy democratic processes and institutional mechanisms that are supposedly founded on equal access and meritocracy. This destruction of public media sources means that the wealthy elite—and the broader racist, xenophobic, sexist, and homophobic forces of the Right—can far more easily enact laws and policies that benefit only themselves to the vast detriment of everyone else. Please let me know the immediate and specific actions you will take to restore government funding for these critically necessary, widely respected broadcasting institutions. Democracy truly cannot survive without trusted public media.