Rodent Regatta

Bocce balls for arts welfare queens

By Craig J. Cantoni

Should the city support the arts with taxpayer money? Sure. Send some my way for my favorite art form of movies. And while you’re being generous with other people’s money, you can send me some taxpayer loot for a Roman statue for my backyard.

If there is a social good in hoity-toity chardonnay sippers getting arts welfare and in blue-collar beer guzzlers getting sports welfare in the form of stadium subsidies, then there must be a social good in this Italian drinker of jug-wine getting welfare to put a bocce alley in the backyard next to the Roman statue. The welfare could be justified by cultural diversity. The Supreme Court says so.

There is always a highfalutin justification when people petition the government to steal money from their neighbors for their own use. For example, arts welfare queens rationalize their theft in two ways. First, they say that the arts are important for a civilized society. Yes, indeed. The arts-rich German Weimar Republic became the Third Reich, and arts-rich Russia became the Soviet Union. Together, the two cultured countries killed over 100 million people.

Second, the queens say that art is good for the local economy because it attracts visitors. Although they never explain how it is good for my family’s economy, they may be on to something. Since my wife and I have hosted many business conferences for visitors, we should get a cut of the tax revenue that we have generated. Incidentally, business visitors do not ask about art museums.

Sure, art subsidies are a drop in the vast tax bucket. The problem is that all the small drops add up and become a tax torrent. It is estimated that the cost of government at all levels is $19,000 per household, excluding the $7,000 per-household cost of regulations. But that is still not enough plunder to satisfy larcenous limousine liberals and crooked country club conservatives.

When my poor grandfather immigrated here, taxes were about two-thirds less than today. Consequently, even on his meager income, he could afford to send his kids to Catholic school and still have enough money left over to play bocce at the local tavern.

A former coal miner with huge hands, he would know what to do about thieving elites if he were alive today. He’d shove a bocce ball up their turned-up noses.

Mr. Cantoni is an author, public speaker and consultant. He can be reached at ccan2@aol.com.

The point: Did our nation’s Founders expect that every special interest group in the nation would ultimately have a line item on the budget that forced taxpayers to pay for or subsidize their cause? (Answer: No)