European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 11, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 14 a the stars and stripes thursday june 11, 1992 Anthony Lewis Perot s town Hall plan smacks of demagogy Ross Perot is the most interesting thing that has happened to american politics in years. He is also the scariest. He has tuned in brilliantly to americans frustration with government their perception that life in this country is growing worse and politicians do nothing about it. He has convinced an astonishing number of people that he can fix things if he is put in charge. He has not said what he would do about the hard problems and voters do not seem to care. But he has indicated How he would govern that is the scary part. Quot the electronic town Hall is Perot a idea. Every so often he would put on a television program about an Issue How to Deal with the budget deficit say. His people congressional members and others would argue different views. Then the Public would vote a by Pushbutton Telephone or postcard. Quot if we Ever put the people Back in charge of this country and make sure they understand the issues a Perot says Quot you la Sec the White House and Congress like a Ballet Pirouette no around the stage getting it done in  direct democracy. But who will a make sure the people understand the issues the opportunities for manipulation arc overwhelming. Few of the issues that confront governments Are so simple that they can be decided by pushing a Telephone Button or checking a postcard. In fact that kind of direct democracy is usually a device to Transfer real Power to a maximum Leader. Mussolini made himself ii Duee by saying be would end political stalemate and make the trains run on time. At his Behest crowds chanted Quot Duce Ducc Duee a and the italian parliament was reduced to a rubber stamp. Demagogues of All kinds have used popular referendums to overwhelm parliamentary opposition. Fidel Astro tried his opponents before chanting crowds in a football stadium. The image of politicians Pirouette no at the Peoples command is not a Happy one Given the history of this Century. Doubts about Perot a proposed method of governing Are strengthened when one looks carefully at the Man who would be in charge. Perot has a record of ruthless determination to get his Way when he thinks he is right which is always. Here is a Small example the More frightening because it is so Small. John who Clur who was chairman of the fund that built the Vietnam War memorial in Washington told the Story last week in the los Angeles times. Perot was against Maya links winning design for the memorial the Low Black Wall with the names of americans dead inscribed in the order of their death. He told Wheeler that unless the design was changed As he wanted a a in la wipe you  Perot hired Roy Cohn a new York lawyer to Slop the memorial from being built As designed. Cohn demanded the memorial funds records charging that it had misused Money. An audit showed nothing wrong. Finally after delay caused by Perot a obstruction the memorial was built. Former astronaut Frank Borman was once hired by Perot to try out the electronic town meeting idea. But he told Michael Kelly of the new York times that he had come to think it was a bad idea one with a enormous potential for manipulating the emotions of people and intimidating Congress. A you realize As you get older that a lot of issues Are very profound and difficult to understand a Borman said. A i done to think you can govern 250 million people with a to  the founders of the United states the men who wrote the Constitution chose not direct democracy but a representative Republic. And they created a system with Many checks and balances knowing that it would not be As efficient As a tyranny but preferring Liberty to efficiency. The checks and balances have become frustrating in our Day with Congress and the presidency politically divided. But safety is still better than efficiency. The House Republican Leader rep. Robert h. Michel of Illinois made the Case when he warned last month against a the glib reply the demagogues gift for oversimplification a he said of Perot a the Isnit the first not going to be the last to say that democracy Isnit working and that if you Trust me with Power 1ti solve your problems. That message sometimes sinister sometimes just downright silly has been heard All Over the world at various times in this Century. That Siren Call has enchanted Good decent people who Are frustrated and disillusioned. A c the now York times George f. Will artist s donations Are a Brush with the absurd Reading that playwright Jon Baitz recipient of a $15,000 Grant from the National endowment for the arts is making two donations of $7,500 to two institutions recently denied Nua Grants for exhibits of what the new York times primly Calls Quot sexually explicit material a you May think what a swell fellow Baitz is putting his Money where his Mouth is. But is it really his Money that is funding his morality skit a Laitz proudly says he is giving away Quot my own funds not the  please. Baitz is a Clever enough Hustler to bilk the government but is not Clever enough to make such sophistry succeed. Money is fungible he is in effect giving his Grant away thereby contemptuously overturning three decisions of a government funding Agency Ilie decisions to fund him and not to fund the two institutions he now funds. An Nea spokesperson who was born to be a bureaucrat responded to Baitza a moral grandstanding with this Fatu Ity Quot we Are delighted any time someone in the private sector wants to support hear t s. A which is worse that this Ninny can get Kin the Public payroll or that Baitz can 1 by ins la Stuie. With Winch lie is a talk pleased bait proved that he in no  needed the $15,000, which was Given a to support activities which contribute to your creative development Quot a research travel whatever. How did they do it Eugene of Neill and Tennessee Williams and the rest who wrote plays before the Nea a filigree on the great society was concocted to irrigate a creative development with Federal Cash in a letter to the Nea reeking of self congratulation Baitz says his Money shuffle saves him from being Quot complicity in the a cultural sacking of this country by conservatives. What lacerated the conscience that Baitz is now hawking in Public was the decision by the near a acting director to veto two $10,000 Grants to two universities for Art exhibits Grants an Nea peer review panel approved. In cultural matters Quot peer review is regarded As sacred As it would not be in the awarding of say defense Eon tracts. There it would be considered Mutual Hack scratching some of the Art that the Nea has declined to subsidize depicts castration floating body parts Smalt photos of body parts and huge sperm. One painting is titled  w . A sympathetic exegesis of this stuff says a it uses fragmented sculptural body parts to express a sense of alienation and isolation that is very much a part of what people Are experiencing in our  the Washington Post disapproving the Nea veto notes archly that a depictions of genitalia Are a not exactly an unheard of element Quot in great Art such As that of a Michelangelo and  actually the question of artistic Merit is by the logic of critics of the Nea veto impermissible because it involves government in making decisions about arts Powers and purposes. You might think that the argument for subsidizing Art must be that the Art serves some social Good. But when the Nea starts distinguishing Between Art that does and does not so serve up Rise cries of  surely Art that has no Power of social improvement has no claim on Public resources. But when government tries to base funding decisions on relevant criteria moral exhibitionists such As Baitz begin to prance and Pirouette. Artists a or in the precious language they prefer the Quot arts Community a Are the most preposterously arrogant lobby in an Era infested with lobbyists demanding entitlements. In fact it is theoretically impossible to demand a More expansive entitlement than the a arts Community demands a Public funds for no defined Public purpose. Because the Nea will not fund stuff such As genital wallpaper saying it is a unlikely to have the Long term artistic significance necessary to Merit endowment funding some in the a arts Community Are refusing to request Nea Grants. They say the Nea is morally unfit to give them Public Money so they arc pulling Back the tin cup. In his letter praising himself. Baitz who has made moral preening something of an Art form says that his Nea Grant mortified him because it Means he is insufficiently offensive to the a psychosexual hysterics and a cultural carpetbaggers now rampant in America. He compares his plight to that of an artist praised by the Vichy government of nazi occupied France. He says America is an a a anguished country sinking you May not have noticed into Bland  Baitz who pulls his snout from tin Public trough Only to lecture the Public on its moral inferiority to him should be told that it is impolite to talk with Onek Mouth full. It get Posl