Who's screwed? Artists! Besides the Republican war on women - and the Republican war on the working class - there's a new war that's receiving some attention around the nation - the Republican war on art! As ThinkProgress noted - Republican lawmakers in Kansas - South Carolina - Arizona - Florida - New Hampshire - Virginia - Maine - and New Jersey - are pushing legislation that cuts deep into school art budgets - and public radio and television outlets. Governors Bob McDonnell in Virginia - Chris Christie in New Jersey - and Paul LePage in Maine - are cutting off funding and privatizing their states' public broadcasting networks - torching TV of for and by the people and replacing it with corporate infotainment.
These Republicans claim it's necessary to cut funding for the arts because of huge budget deficits - but in reality these cuts are nickels and dimes compared to the amount of revenue that's wasted on tax cuts for transnational corporations and the uber-rich. I guess we're supposed to expect billionaire Oligarchs like the Murdoch and the Koch brothers to fund our nation's art projects now.
Expect "post-modern, anti-global warming" to be the newest emerging art theme.
-Thom
(What do you think will be the result of the war on art? Tell us here.)
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