Here we are in April....
(In case you haven't noticed or heard..............)
BUT: How often have you heard ANY of our candidates (even the ones already dumped) say anything about the arts?..................
Actually, Mike Huckaby avowed that music education should be in all the schools. (Of course he doesn't admit that Baptist hymns would be the lynchpin of the curriculum, especially the electric bass lines.....)
That's it, as far as I've heard. No mention of the possibility that the reason the citizenry has made such atrocious electoral choices in the last fifty years is because that same citizenry is an undereducated, arts-ignorant rabble. No mention of the possibilty that this same arts-unwashedness contributes to our falling behind in world competitiveness.
And certainly no indication on the part of any of the candidates that they understood or were aware of the struggle arts organizations and especially the artists and performers have in our very competitive world society.
Possibly it's fear. Fear that by demonstrating a concern for these matters they will lose votes, because we are surrounded by said undereducated arts-ignorant rabble, and they are the voters. But maybe that's just wishful thinkig colored by a musician's hereditary paranoia. Unfortunately, it's more likely that Barack, Hillary, John and their ilk are themselves so unaware of how the arts truly fit into the historic grand scheme of humanity's quest that hope is nearly lost here. They show no sign of knowing..."they have no idea how little they know".
So.........looks like, as usual, we in music, and painting and dance, and writing, and theater, will have to do the job ourselves, without help from our 'freely elected' leaders. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
And: this is not a blog! If it were, what a torrent...
This page was last updated on 04/14/2008
