Mitt Romney caused a big stink last week when he suggested taxpayers no longer be forced to support Big Bird, the feathery friend to millions of kids and annoying leader of a singing band of politically correct puppets to parents. 

But a new poll shows that 55 percent of Americans think forking over cash to Sesame Street and PBS is a worthy expenditure of taxpayer dollars.  And that includes a third of Republicans.  In other words, 55 percent of the country and a third of the supposedly conservative GOP aren't really interested in shrinking government or at the very least serious about cutting spending. 

I know PBS is small potatos in the grand scheme of government spending.  It's not a drop in the bucket toward fixing our debt and deficit.  I get it.  But it's also the low-hanging fruit.  This should be the easy stuff.  Big Bird and his pals Elmo, Cookie Monster and the count make boatloads of money.  I know - they're all over toys, infectious song books and diapers in my house. 

Why the hell shouldn't PBS and Sesame Street be forced to stand on their own?  I'm becoming more and more convinced that an ever increasing percentage of our population isn't really interested in limited government and anything that resembles a free market economy. 

No wonder those singing monsters on Sesame Street are always so happy.