Art Funds and Censorship

The two learned gentlemen have missed the point 180 degrees.

I don’t approve of censorship any more than they do; however, in this particular case, the overburdened taxpayers, many of whom are vehemently opposed to pornographic “art,” are the ones who would have had no choice but to foot the bill for this unadulterated trash had it not been for Helms’ amendment. In other words, what Farrell and Benavidez don’t realize is that anything the government subsidizes it also controls.

Ferrell and Benavidez have acknowledged that the taxpayers are picking up the tab for a lot of this rot which they have the temerity to refer to as art; however that’s as far as they go. Not once did they attempt to justify this squandering of public money.

Finally, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is the cornerstone of our American Republic, not of American democracy. This is a republic, not a democracy. Let’s keep it that way!

ROBERT W. VAN de WALLE

Granada Hills