No Middle Ground In Funding Debate Keep Arts Funding New York Brouhaha Is A Political Ploy

The debate over public funding for the arts remains a classic, but how it’s framed is constantly changing.

This time the fury comes from New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who has cut off the city’s payment to the Brooklyn Museum of Art because that institution has refused to cancel the “Sensation” exhibit.

The museum has sued, saying the mayor has violated its First Amendment rights.

The mayor’s outrage is aimed at “The Holy Virgin Mary,” a rendering of an African Virgin Mary adorned with small cutouts from pornographic magazines and splotches of elephant dung. Giuliani, a Catholic, says taxpayers should not support the bashing of “someone else’s religion.” The artist, Chris Ofili, is Catholic.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that governments cannot censor works of art based on viewpoint. The court ruled that having the state decide what is art is an affront to the First Amendment.

That wouldn’t preclude the mayor from pulling all public funding regardless of content. But to do that, he would have stop payment to all of the city’s public museums and cultural institutions, not just the one in Brooklyn. It’s telling that he doesn’t do this, despite the fact they too house works that take swipes at religion.

What the mayor really has in mind is milking this sacred cow and dumping the contents over his U.S. Senate opponent. To her credit, Hillary Clinton has said she disagrees with the cessation of funding based on content.

Giuliani has all but given up the First Amendment fight. The city’s attorneys are instead arguing in federal court that the exhibit should be shut down not for its blasphemy but because it bars children (as if they want kids to attend). Of course, these details will be left out of the inevitable campaign commercial showing Hizzoner standing up for Her honor.

So, the argument is the same, the circumstances are different. You either agree that government should finance art, or you don’t. The middle ground is unacceptable and unconstitutional. Politicians should not decide what is offensive, especially those facing a tough fight for higher office.

This isn’t about whether the art is good or bad or uplifting or offensive. It’s about whether people are allowed to judge for themselves. Thanks to Giuliani, record numbers are flocking to the museum to do just that.