These are the people who run our country. Maher’s only distinction is that she was marginally clumsier about concealing or soft-pedaling her ideas in the public eye.

This may come as a surprise to many elected Republicans, who have happily forked over government check after government check to institutions like NPR, but we are not actually obligated to fund people and organizations that hate us. The problem is that we do — to the tune of billions of dollars. This goes well beyond both Maher and NPR: An entire ecosystem of powerful left-wing activist groups, NGOs, and nonprofits is sustained by tax dollars, often with the (conscious or unconscious) assent of the congressional GOP.