Dingy Harry: We must save cowboy poetry from budget cuts!

You know, if we can’t cut federal subsidies for a cowboy poetry festival, we really can’t cut federal subsidies for anything at all.

“The mean-spirited bill, H.R. 1, eliminates National Public Broadcasting,” said Reid in a floor speech. “It eliminates the National Endowment of the Humanities, National Endowment of the Arts. These programs create jobs. The National Endowment of the Humanities is the reason we have in northern Nevada every January a cowboy poetry festival. Had that program not been around, the tens of thousands of people who come there every year would not exist.”

Of course, the festival people would still exist. They would just be somewhere else doing something else. Or maybe commercial interests would step in and see the festival as a money-making opportunity and sponsor it. Combine it with a chili cook-off and a flea market and you’ve got yourself a guaranteed hit.

Perhaps these various national endowments should become our litmus test of spending seriousness: If they survive the current budget cutting fevah intact, we’re not serious.

Addendum: The cowboy way is all about rugged individualism. Not handouts from Uncle Sugar. The subsidy should be cut on that basis alone.