CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Government, Freedom, and Art”

[Hear it! Audio Commentary section of FFF’s website.] “A federal judge ruled that New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani violated the First Amendment when he cut funding for the Brooklyn Museum of Art after it displayed a painting that he found offensive. But isn’t the issue one of private property rather than free speech? If art were not subsidized by the taxpayers, museums, their visitors, and the free market would decide what art was worth exhibiting and worth viewing. Art is subjective, and creative endeavors should be determined voluntarily, not through the force of government.”