Without the government, who would pay for studies to figure out why minority children enjoy reading Japanese comics? A new report shined a light on how the Biden administration is coming up with novel ways to waste the money the government swipes from each of our paychecks.

Most of us already know that the state spends taxpayer funds on wasteful endeavors. But few understand just how deep this drunken-sailor spending goes:

The Biden administration is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds to study why minority children read Japanese comic books, part of an initiative to implement “diversity, equity, and inclusion” in the nation’s libraries.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency under the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities, this month awarded New York’s Queens College $313,318 to conduct a three-year study of manga and to “understand why [black, indigenous, and people of color] kids read manga,” a style of comic book that originated in Japan. The grant is aimed at closing the “knowledge gap” for librarians who are “unfamiliar” with manga and to identify manga titles popular with teenagers. The grant is provided under the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program, which aims to “develop a diverse library and archival workforce” and “reduce equity gaps and address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion” in libraries.

It is the latest example of the Biden administration using taxpayer dollars to fund diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The State Department sent $100,000 to Palestinian groups to promote DEI principles and is spending $12 million to implement DEI in Iraq. The administration recently spent $90,000 to study diversity, equity, and inclusion in the construction industry. The Washington Free Beacon reported that the Biden State Department has spent nearly $5 million to help foreign activist groups stage pride parades and drag shows.

Forget diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) for a second. We need to stop and ask why the hell our government believes in spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to find out why minority children dig Japanese comic books? What possible benefit could this initiative have to American society that it requires the state to throw our money at it?

Moreover, if the state is going to take our money under threat of imprisonment, aren’t there more worthy causes like education, infrastructure, and crime? What could possibly be so urgent about understanding the obsession with Manga that it requires hundreds of thousands of dollars?

But there is an even deeper issue here.

This is not just about wasteful spending. It shows just how bloated our federal government has become. The state has grown so fat and happy that it has money to spend on studies about minority children and Japanese comics. This goes leaps and bounds beyond what the government’s actual role is supposed to be: Protecting our rights.

The reason the government gets away with this is because we tend not to pay much attention to the minutiae that elite media throws at us on a daily basis. We are so bogged down with outrage porn and distractions that we remain unaware of what our government is doing with the money it steals from us. But at least there is a silver lining: We will finally find out why minority kids dig Japanese comics.