The Struggle for Fiscal Sanity: Can We Make Necessary Choices?

Via The Corner.



This morning in my inbox was a note from the Oregon Arts Commission announcing grants of 110-thousand dollars for "Arts Build Communities."

"These grants reward and encourage the work, planning and innovative arts partnerships that were developed to improve lives in communities large and small across Oregon," said Jean Boyer Cowling, Chair of the Oregon Arts Commission who led the proposal review. "The most competitive and interesting projects responded directly to challenges facing Oregonians today."

Hey, I like art. My son's middle name is Art. I can read music, play the piano. Sing from time-to-time. MOMA? Hey, if you're in New York and can't spend some time at MOMA, you're missing one of the world's great treasures.

The problem is, the state is broke. We spending hundreds of millions of dollars we don't have. I've a clue I'd like to share; art won't go away simply because the government fails to pay for it. Art, from the mediocre to the great will persist. Art for art's sake. (Did you ever see those words in Latin? Used by a private corporation?)

The next session is going to be bloody. We have the votes in the House to block excess spending, but lack the votes to pass legislation because of a Democrat majority in the Senate. And, from his track record, I don't think we'll be able to count on the Governor-elect to provide the leadership the State needs to overcome this legislative impasse. Democrats get elected because they pander to any and every "group" out there. The Arts represents one community. There are lots of other "communities." Each with their own message of indispensibility. We simply can't live without them.

They are wrong.