A Republican-controlled House of Representatives has passed legislation that includes cuts to sponsorship of...NASCAR.
You didn't know the federal government advertises
Well, why would they do that? You know, harm a constituency. There are two reasons; the first, of course, is what they say. Fiscal responsibility isn't just for planned parenthood and
“I am a conservative Republican. I’m very pro-military, but at some point, we have to get in the habit of cutting programs that are less efficient, less effective. … Would you still spend this money if it was you?” asked Rep. Jack Kingston, Republican from Georgia. “They can still go to events. They can still put up banners. They can be all over the high school sporting events. But $20 million for one NASCAR race (team)? Have we lost our minds?”
Wow, ethical words from a politician that aren't about an opposition program? What happened there?
There's another reason why this was a safe decision and this is the pickle that scientists also find themselves in; when only 10% of your members are Republican, Democrats don't need to listen to you. You are not going to suddenly vote Republican. So if the president makes a flaccid effort at improving stem cell research, hacks up science reports to match his agenda and stonewalls decisions by scientists at the EPA and the State Department for political reasons, he isn't risking much.
So it goes with NASCAR. While NASCAR is not as skewed as science academia, it is skewed enough that they are not going to vote Democrat if Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team suddenly does not have a giant "National Guard" sticker on it.
