From The Revolution: A Manifesto:
Some Americans appear to believe that there would be no arts in America were it not for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), an institution created in 1965. They cannot imagine things being done any other way, even though they were done another way throughout our country’s existence, and throughout most of mankind’s history. While the government requested $121 million for the NEA in 2006, private donations to the arts totaled $2.5 billion that year, dwarfing the NEA budget. The NEA represents a tiny fraction of all arts funding, a fact few Americans realize. Freedom works afer all. And that money is almost certainly better spent than government money: NEA funds go not necessarily to the best artists, but to people who happen to be good at filling out government grant applications. I have my doubts that the same people populate both categories.
I knew that the NEA made a minority contribution to the arts, but I didn’t realize that it was only 5% of the size of the private sector’s. One would think that the private sector could take up the slack created by the NEA’s elimination, particularly if it were timed to coincide with a decrease of taxation, made possible by the immediate end to our pathetic misadventures in empire-building abroad.
I’ve said it before: I’d like to know what distinguishes the collection or exhibition of a living artist’s work by a publicly funded museum and any other kind of corporate welfare.
Oh, and the last sentence of that excerpt? Hard to argue.
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July 10th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Hard to argue with most of what Ron Paul said in the campaign. It was easy to make fun of him as a whacko because he has a high pitched voice, a skinny little body and ears like Ross Perot. Of course if you actually listened to the substance of what he says then instead of electing Obama (a man of no substance but that looks really good) or McCain (a man that isn’t a decision maker based on best interest of the country but based on what the public thinks it wants) you could have a man that actually knew what he was talking about, took the time to articulate it in print so he couldn’t say he never said it, said so much with sarcasm which is lost on the real whackos of both the left and right…. sorry… got on my soap box and forgot the topic… Government was built to protect the citizens from crime and from forgeign threats. Government’s job is not to fund feel good artsy stuff. The private sector is charged with deciding what it likes and deems worthy of getting money.
July 10th, 2008 at 11:48 am
I’m just impressed that with all of the attention the National Endowment for the Arts always gets for their funding, that in the grand scheme of things, its really not that much. Of course, we just received our first NEA grant and we certainly receive funding from the State and the County, but just like many arts organizations, a large percentage of our budget comes from individuals, corporations, and foundations. We receive around $65,000 in public funds, but our entire budget is over $200,000. The rest of that money’s got to come from somewhere!