European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 17, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 a the stars and stripes column George f. Willarts fail to become a burning Public Issue a this a says rep. Newt Gingrich r-ga., speaking of and like George Bush a is a traditional values kind of this testimonial was elicited not by Bush a stand against the menace of Flag burning a but by his reversal of position regarding subsidies for the arts. Bush no longer opposes restrictions on Grants from the National endowment for the arts. Now he favors support for a Good projects Quot but not obscene ones. The controversy about protecting the Flag testifies to a consensus so Strong that no action is needed. The controversy about the arts testifies to the absence of the sort of consensus needed to justify the Nea. The Flag merits special Protection As a symbolic summation of National values. Thus the supreme court is wrong in ruling that the Constitution which both depends on and establishes those values forbids criminalizing desecration of the Flag. But the strength of Public fury about Flag desecration proves that it would be disproportionate to Amend the Constitution to combat sporadic desecration. Bush says Flag burning a endangers the fabric of the such hyperventilating signifies insincerity it is the synthetic indignation of the politically calculating. Bush is pandering to a consensus the existence of which makes his proposed amendment superfluous. The Public is far More volatile regarding the Flag than Art. What is notable is not that some Art scandalized but that so Little Art docs. What distinguishes 1990william Safire from say 1875 or 1913 is the indifference of the Public to Art. On May 29, 1913, there was turbulence Between two morally passionate groups at the theatre Des champs Elysee. The occasion was the Premier of Stravinsky a Ballet a ale Sacre do in a sense the turmoil in the auditorium ratified the Art. By turning Ballet the most Graceful of arts into a jarring experience modernism defined itself. It was Art As sensational event As provocation severed from improving purpose. The meaning of the Art was in the audiences tumultuous reaction to it. Today the problem with Public funds for the arts is not just that subsidies sometimes go to projects in which urinating and simulated sex acts and whip handles in anuses is important. The Large problem is that there is no consensus about what Art is or Why it is important. The definition of Art has been democratized Art is whatever anyone calling himself an artist says it is. This is the Philistin ism of the elites. It makes the a arts Community the phrase connotes ostentatious separation from the larger society the most arrogant lobby. That a Community Quot demands the most extravagant entitlement a Public funds for no defined Public Pur Fiose. Setting limits on the kinds of Art for which Public funds shall go for example excluding blasphemy or obscenity is called if Art has no improving purpose it has no claim on Public resources. Anyway when there is no consensus concerning the purpose or even the nature of Art political institutions Are especially ill suited to the task of formulating standards for the intelligent Disbury ment of subsidies. A some artists seeking subsidies accept the need to acknowledge a Public put it Ose and they say shocking provoking and disco fiting the Public is Good for it fair enough. They Are free to do so. But the perverse result today is that political institutions rendered passive by the fear of being branded Philistine acquiesce in the demand for unrestricted subsidies to support the shocking provoking and disco fiting of the subsidizes. Mark my words. It is Only a matter of time before someone bums a Flag Calls it a kinetic Art a and gets a Grant to take his act on the Road. The argument for subsidizing the arts has a distinguished Pedigree. It holds that the arts elevate the pub lie mind by exposing it to Beauty that gives Rise to ennobling sentiments that leaven society. But nowadays if you speak of arts Public purpose or discuss standards for what is elevating and ennobling you Are Apt to be denounced As an enemy of a artistic fair enough. Let artists be free from the taint of Public purpose and thus from the Burden of Public funds. C Washington pos the Flag deserves our respect not our worship do you wonder Why the ordinarily reasonable George Bush is wrapping himself in a a Flag amendment Quot to Lead an assault on the Bill of rights Are you puzzled by the presidents arts flip Flop As he now backs away from the Public funding of obscene or sacrilegious Art these questions have a common answer the 1990 midterm election Campaign is under Way. The Republican goal is to make inroads into the moderate Middle with centrist Domestic policies and Nice Guy treatment of collapsing communists while holding the growling right by punching its supposed hot buttons of super patriotism and anti Pomish. The democratic goal is simply to re elect incumbents to Congress. To this uninspiring end the party will raid the Treasury to fund mass franked mailings to constituents its philosophy is to sum Mitize on the budget deficit until after the election and Hope for the invigorating boost of a major recession. These Are unworthy goals and demeaning strategies. Should we throw up our hands and say a i never vote it Only encourages them no now is the time for democrats to get mad at their leaders for hiding in the Hill Bunker does no to anybody Here want to Start to run for president and for gop voters to refuse to be manipulated by the White House politics of cultural resentment. Ill do my bit from the right beginning with a Brief diatribe against the abandonment of conservative principle in the unprecedented unconscionable and wholly unnecessary attack on the Bill of rights. The Central Tenet of conservatism is that a unless it is necessary to change it is necessary not to the country is not under intolerable siege or danger of overthrow absolutely no need exists to Amend our first amendment guaranteeing Freedom of speech Assembly and religion. Flag burners by infuriating most of us seek repression but by fooling with the Bill of rights we would play into their hands. The Way to frustrate those who test the strength of our Constitution is to ignore them to tune them out not to make prime time political martyrs out of them. Equally important conservatives aware of the founders prohibition of the establishment of an official religion reject the application of the word a a desecration to our nations Symbol. Although we May express religious belief in political settings a from an opening prayer in Congress to a in god we Trust Quot on our coins a in this democracy nothing political can be consecrated or a made should we respect the Flag always. Should we worship the Flag never. We Salute the Flag but we Reserve worship for god. Any attempt to make the nations Flag sacred a to endow this secular Symbol with the holiness required for a a desecration a not Only undermines our political Freedom but belittles our worship of the creator. If rep. Lynn Martin of Illinois thinks a Flag Issue will help her unseat sen. Paul Simon she May discover Many principled conservatives turning to the Democrat for his support of the Bill of rights. The Campaign year inclination to treat the american Eagle As the Golden calf is closely related to the controversy Over the use of Public Money to support sacrilegious or borderline obscene works of Art. At first the president reacted to the outrage of conservatives at the taxpayer support of the Mapplethorpe and Serrano works by disapproving that Allied Bush with the cultural political left. Censorship is not the Issue funding is. Artists Are free to express themselves in outrageous ways but the government is not obligated to buy their works Freedom of expression is a right but payment for it is not an entitlement. Bush a political advisers warned him this was a cultural resentment Button on a Par with Flag burning. With an Eye to the 1990 campaigns the president swung around Well see new accountability in the Way taxpayer Money goes to the arts. I happen to believe the arts and the feds should never be bedfellows but that a my libertarian self indulgence. Today a focus is on Why Bush veered from his Middle Road instincts in this Case he is moving Only to palliate the Antip mists. He should Cut out All this Flag waving anti Pom posturing that a not Why most eighties vote Republican. And his Macho Bluenose pose will never look the hard right they know he a no first term Reagan. Of now what about you democrats As the 1990 Campaign begins Are you satisfied with the abuse of franking and the absence of frankness on the left c new York times
