I approve of this. The people who make the funding decisions should be politically accountable. If you have a mental model of unappointed civil servants as detached, neutral, non-political entities, I can understand why you wouldn't. But I see them as just people, and I don't know anybody like that. I'd like the folks who make bad choices with tax dollars to be votable out of office along with their boss, rather than protected from accountability by layers of boards, laws and unions.

As a remedy, I recommend everyone on the left read George Lakoff's book "Don't Think of an Elephant." It's a guide for how to communicate effectively, especially to people who have a vastly different worldview from themselves.

He's been consulting to organizations for a long time and these books are the distillation of his knowledge in plain language.

Preview:

1. He makes an (obv simplified) model of left vs right communication as "nurturing parent" vs. "strict father." There is obvious overlap - it's a model, but you can see how much this explains as he develops it a bit further.

2. He talks about a "staining" or "triggering" effect when communicating. what does that mean? people have key words that instantly shut down their thought, preventing useful discussion. For example, immediately upon hearing the words "trans," conservatives might picture a man in a dress molesting someone in a bathroom. Similar for leftists when they hear a word like "corporation" or "business." So he teaches how to communicate without stumbling on these.