Footing the Bill for PBS Programming

Re letter to the editor from James R. Gallagher (Jan. 29):

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) deserves praise, not ridicule, for his courageous stance against continued welfare for the rich in the form of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. James R. Gallagher’s letter misses the central issue: On what authority can the federal government tax its citizens to finance PBS, whose audience is singularly affluent and well educated?

Given the demographics of its viewers, the programs now on PBS should find little difficulty finding private-sector sponsors. If PBS viewers do not want commercials, the programs ought to be financed through private donations from its satisfied viewers--but not from the sweat and toil of middle-class taxpayers.

Mr. Gallagher is quite correct that a “free country should always allow dissenting opinions”--that is the gist of the free marketplace of ideas guaranteed by the First Amendment. Forced taxpayer support of a network catering to society’s elite is quite another matter and has no basis in the First Amendment.

EDWARD J. RUTYNA, Fountain Valley

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A contract has been put out on the arts! Where is the avalanche of letters and the cacophony of phones ringing to protect the endangered public TV, national public radio, theaters, symphonies, dance, opera and all the cultural programs that have always been our humanizing influence.

Help save us from the educated barbarians who fervently believe in a balanced budget above all. To Quote “The Second Coming”: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”

Let us show a “passionate conviction” that the arts are vital to our well-being. Our senators and representatives must hear from us.

BEATRICE N. YOUNG, Huntington Beach