European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 11, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 a the stars and stripes columns William f. Buckley  a free society should censor the arts the ongoing quarrel Over the role of the National endowment for the arts suffers As so Many quarrels do from a Lack of focus. This is sometimes the doing of the ignorant sometimes the doing of polemical opportunists. These last would have us believe that those americans who have been alarmed by a few excesses of the Nea in the recent past arc crypt fascists who favor a general censorship. Anthony Lewis of the new York times is not ignorant and therefore must be set Down As behaving opportunistically. The technique is hoary one associates the opposing argument with unseemly people. As in a the other Side which one might Call the fascist Side favors a consider for instance the matter of the photographs by Andres Serrano. You will remember the Crucifix immersed in the urine of the artist photographed with the caption a piss Christ now i think it entirely candid to say that there is a Community of people in America among whom or. Lewis is comfortable who Are quite simply Uno fended by such a photograph. For one thing they think of Christ if Ever they do As a distracting historical superstition responsible for All sorts of human Misbehaviour including wars and persecutions and if some artist wants to express his feeling about Christ a and about christianity Derivatively a by urinating on a Crucifix and calling it Art who Are we to object thus or. Lewis begins his column a a Small band of religious zealots and right Wing political opportunists is trying to show the world that America is an intolerant Puritan country contemptuous of  How is that for target bombing those who believe that something is functionally wrong with an Agency that begets piss christs and circulates pictures by the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe that celebrate the exact word homoeroticism and sadomasochism the technique then is to de Ellen Goodman ounce those who state their objections and to associate them with a great historical pageant of All things horrible. Thus the protestant minister Donald wild Mon who has objected to some of the work of the Nea a would no doubt prefer to live in the Spain of Torquemada the Massachusetts of Cotton Mather or the soviet Union of  sometimes it is painful to be made to think but at the risk of inflicting cruel and unusual punishment on or. Lewis one needs to Lead him calmly through a child a Garden of syllogisms. A censorship of a generic kind is exercised every Day by myriad authorities. The new York times which is the most authoritative newspaper in the country exercises a benevolent censorship by for instance declining to publish pictures of the Mapplethorpe photos under discussion. In declining to do this it can be denounced for exercising narrow censorship or it can be praised for exercising Good judgment. A if the word a a censorship is appropriately used to describe a refusal to Back a particular exhibit then it is also appropriately used to describe the very act of selection. For instance last october the Nea first pulled Back from and then reinstated its funding of something called a witnesses against our vanishing an exhibition of aids related paintings and photographs. When the Agency decided to reverse itself and renew its backing it did so with one qualification it declined to Supply the Money to pay for the accompanying Catalon that was designed to go with the aids exhibit. The Catalon was an explosion of anti Christian odium the Catholic Church is a a House of walking swastikas. That Catalon was a a censored by the Nea we Are free then to say. A but in that Case censorship goes on at a feverish Pace Given the discrepancy Between the number of applications for Nea Money and the Money available. For every Dollar of the $170 million spent by the Nea one assumes that an application for $2 or $3 was turned Down. On what grounds Well maybe the peer committee did no to think that other photographer was As a a Good As Mapplethorpe. Using what criteria Weller. The composition Wasny tas Good nor the lighting nor the subject matter As interesting. Writes or. Lewis a the critics of the Nea when they want to sound reasonable say that after All it is Only a question of making sure that government Money does not go for objectionable Art. But that argument begs the real question who decides a but that Isnit the most interesting question. The real question is whoever does decide a and somebody must a is what issues from that decision something that critics can Call censorship censorship used in this Way goes on every Day in every Way in a free society a and should. C Universal press Syndicate one woman a prototype political Campaign i h itch Uttel of to Rel i tie la it not Nyrl n a _ a _ o t m a. _ in the rooms where political consultants and pollsters let Down their hair and Roll out their numbers there is a perennial question about women and politics. How can a Campaign get Over the invisible hurdle that women face on the Way to the governors mansion or the White House How even in this age can a candidate reconcile the lingering conflict Between the voters image of a chief executive and their image of a woman How can a Campaign create a whole out of these two parts and produce a female Winner this year the people who wrestle with such questions Are going to be watching California. There Dianne Feinstein is in the process of creating what May Well become a prototype Campaign for women in the 1990s. On june 5, Feinstein won the democratic nomination for governor in that huge state and did it handily. She won with menus votes she won with women a. And most intriguingly she won by directly confronting the Public images both for and against women politicians. The Campaign of this self described a different candidate was created As meticulously As if her political advisers were Bio geneticists. The former mayor of san Francisco fused the images of two genders into one description As omnipresent As the tagline to her ads a a Dianne Feinstein Tough and  the emphasis is on the word  any pollster can Tell you that a woman in politics has a jump Start in the Public mind that fairly or not associates her gender with honesty empathy and care taking values. The most seasoned female politician is seen As an outsider an agent of change. This is one reason Why there Are More women holding office these Days its one reason Why 10 women Are in the running for governor. A woman also begins with a wide margin of credibility on women a rights issues. In a year when the abortion Issue looms Large Feinstein convinced voters that she was More trustworthy on the Issue of Choice even though her opponent was also pro Choice. The a different candidate was forthright in appealing to women voters. But the pollsters will also Tell you that certain code words signify trouble for women candidates. Words like leadership strength decisiveness. Female candidates for the higher offices even incumbents in those jobs almost invariably face charges about their a leadership ability when running against a Man. There comes a moment in a Campaign for the top spot when subliminally or directly a woman candidate is called upon to show How a a Strong she is. To measure up to the boys. For Geraldine Ferraro it was the moment in the 1984 vice presidential debate with George Bush when the candidate was asked if she could push the nuclear Button. She said yes. For Ann Richards it was the moment in the bloody Texas primary when the candidate for governor let Loose her own attack ads. The Content of the ads May have been less important to her Victory than the demonstration that Richards had the guts to kick Back. For Feinstein the Pivotal moment was when she came out in favor of capital punishment. This More than anything else became the proof of Feinstein a toughness. Tough and caring a Tough on criminals Canna of families a she won the pro Choice vote Ana the capital punishment vote. Not every female candidate can create a comfortable hybrid of the old stereotypes. Feinstein is unique in some ways. She came to the National spotlight As a kind of political  she inherited the Job of mayor when George Moscone was shot. Even her a a Tough stand on capital punishment carried with it the Edge of a  she began the second phase of her Campaign against the formidable and Well financed Pete Wilson by talking in a deliberately a a different voice. She said that californians a want to have someone who is Strong who is going to take care of them and take care of their families. They really done to care what kind of Shell that individual comes  if she becomes the first female governor of Cah or Nia Feinstein will ride into office on a renovated Model for Success a Tough and  one word from the old male vocabulajy.3� one word from the old female dictionary. Add inc together and then perhaps the title governor eve president May not have a gender anymore. C Washington Post writers group the opinions expressed in the columns and ear too on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in Way to be considered As representing the views of stars and stripes or the United states government