I saw a video on TikTok of a Republican congressman claiming that the Build Back Better legislation as proposed by the Congress included money to pay the salaries of reporters. I thought it couldn’t be true so I did some research. Sure enough the bill includes a provision to give $1.6 Billion to local media outlets to pay staff. As the congressman said “What could possibly go wrong.” The media would become even more supportive of the “do something about everything” mentality of the government bureaucracy.
On top of being a probable violation of the second amendment it reeks of the kind of elitist “help ourselves and hang the nation” attitude that a part of the Democrat party has come to represent. It doesn’t look like Build Back Better is going anywhere but this section should definitely be stricken from successor legislation.
King George IV put a tax on paper in the colonies that so angered Benjamin Franklin and other printers that they became vocal advocates of the revolution that founded our country. This is the inverse of that sentiment.
As the proverb says: “He who pays the piper calls the tune.” Is this what we want?
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There is some truth to this post Simon– I have not given any thought to having the government bail out media but – unless you know more than I do about the facts in this case I would guess that bailing out a dying media would include media on all sides of the political spectrum- and aside from TV — newspapers on both sides are sorely in the decline. I am glad arts groups and restaurnats were bailed out and that was a good thing If it was coming from one politician who then used it to influence coverage- that would not be good. But that is not what this bill is. I cant see how it would violate the 2nd amendment The federal government is already in the media business with PBS, NPR and Voice of America- (those are just the ones I know of)
Your quote of “help ourselves and hang the nation” says something about a VERY Small portion of the Democratic party. Do you really think that is what the Democratic party is really all about? To me that would describe a majority of the Republican party a majority of whom (gladly not all) are more interested in being endorsed by our former President than getting to the truth about how- when he was commander in chief– not only allowed the Capitol to be attacked but clearly encouraged it