Truly nothing good and decent in this world is sacred to or safe from a Republican.
Yesterday, the heart-shattering news broke of America's beloved Dolly Parton's passing.
But as the nation mourns our cherished country music superstar and venerable do-gooder, Newsweek notes that some Republican lawmakers have spent the past year trying to cut funding for Dolly's most famous charity work.
Dolly's Imagination Library was first launched in 1995 and serves to send a free book to children every month, from birth to the age of 5. There are no income restrictions, and the program is free for all enrolled families. The country music superstar said that she was inspired to start the program by her father's inability to read and write and hoped that she could play even a small role in fostering an early love for the written word in children around the world, as the program operates not only in the US, but also in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Republic of Ireland.
Since its founding, Imagination Library has provided upwards of 300 million books to children and serves more than 3 million currently enrolled kids.
It's genuinely the epitome of the goodness and decency that Dolly herself embodied throughout her life -- which means Republicans couldn't care less about it.
GOP lawmakers in both Indiana and Missouri have been working to greatly reduce or cut all state funding from Imagination Library over the past year.
State funding was entirely removed for the program in Indiana last year, even though, at the time of its removal from the Indiana budget, more than 125,000 children in the state were enrolled, and former Republican Governor Eric Holcomb had secured a $6 million, two-year state allocation for the program.
Holcomb's successor, Republican Governor Mike Braun, said the state would instead seek private philanthropic funding to keep Dolly's program alive in Indiana.
Jeff Conyers, the Vice Chair and President of the Dollywood Foundation, released a statement to Rolling Stone last year in response to Indiana's funding cut, expressing hope "that Governor Braun and the Indiana Legislature will continue this vital investment by restoring the state's funding match for local Imagination Library programs."
"The beauty of the Imagination Library is that it unites us all - regardless of politics - because every child deserves the chance to dream big and succeed," he said at the time.
The state of Missouri pulled a similar stunt, cutting state funding for the free book program from around $6 million to around $2 million for the impending fiscal year, forcing an enrollment freeze in the state on July 1. Children already enrolled in the program are expected to continue receiving books until the money runs dry.
Ironically enough, Missouri was previously the first state to fund the free children's book program fully.
In the wake of Dolly's sudden passing, following a brief battle with cancer, Imagination Library released a public statement vowing to continue Dolly's book-gifting program, rain or shine.
"The work ahead has never felt more meaningful, and we will carry it forward as she lifts us all up," the Dolly Parton Imagination Library wrote on social media shortly after the country singer's family publicly announced her death.
Dolly Parton was one of the very few famous people out in the world who actually put her money where her mouth was. She didn't say much with respect to her political leanings; she simply let her actions speak for themselves -- launching The People's Fund that provided $1,000 a month for 6 months to families who lost everything in the catastrophic Eastern Tennessee wildfire, the Buddy Program that pledged $500 to every seventh and eighth grader in her home county who graduated high school, effectively cutting the drop-out rate from 35% to 6%, contributed countless millions to disaster relief, and even helped to fund the scientific research that resulted in the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
It simply gets no better than Dolly, and we truly hope she is now resting in all the peace and power she deserves as we vow to keep her beautiful dreams alive earthside.
