Closing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting proves budget debates increasingly target symbolic programs while leaving the real drivers of government spending untouched.

On top of a mountain in Yosemite in September last year, with the nation’s fiscal troubles and the size of the federal government about as far from my thoughts as could be, I would suddenly be reminded of the deeply entrenched divides of American society and contemporary politics.

As my travel companion (a highly educated, woke, fairly average Californian in her 30s) and I approached the peak, we encountered an odd-looking man in a hat. He and his half-dozen collaborators were finding the optimal camera angles and comparing the sun-blistered vistas of the surrounding mountains to century-old drawings. Our new acquaintance turned out to be a filmmaker, until recently employed by PBS.

“These guys are my friends,” he said, gesturing toward the remarkably fit crew of men roughly our age. “Because of the cuts, there’s no money for anything anymore; they’re here on their own dime, helping to make this documentary happen.”

Our hat-wearing filmmaker and my friend looked at each other with quick, pained smiles and “hmm” that only two artsy, big-government types can, the words “tragedy” and “cultural decline” visible across their faces. And there we stood, lamenting in no uncertain terms the “destruction of America” that a sum — all $1 billion of it, spent by the federal government in about an hour — had needlessly brought to our attention. What’s a billion among friends, when the federal government dashes out seven thousand such billions every year?

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