Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 4 · column 6 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
est people in the land. Because if artists have a “right” to be subsidized, so do the fanners, and the iron workers, and the truck drivers, and everybody in the country.
What you end up with is a society like that in Sweden or the Soviet Union, where, in a well-intentioned but futile effort to create a “level” playing field, government policy drags down the exceptional individual even as it lifts the mediocre, where goods and services are shoddy, and where you stand in line all day for a roll of toilet paper, that — if you are lucky enough to buy it — is as soft as newsprint and still costs more than it does in the freemarket west. (Of course, you can bet the state-sponsored dancers in the Bolshoi Ballet don’t stand in line for toilet paper, but God help the Russian abstract expressionist who doesn’t merit government support!)
It seems to me that the Russians today are busy learning a lesson that we have all but forgotten. With the failed Russian experiment in mind, here’s a thought about redistribution of the wealth. I do not mind that the federal, state, and. local governments use my tax dollars for needed services and aid to the poor.
But the fourth amendment guarantees the right of the people to be secure in their houses and effects against unreasonable seizures. Yet the government can and does “seize” our effects, every April 15th. Using our tax “contribution” for vital services and for the needy is reasonable.
But it is unreasonable seizure to “redistribute” our earnings to farmers who don’t plant, artists who can’t sell, dilettantes who run unprofitable galleries and others who may feel they have a claim on our incomes.
These are my positions, and I’m sure they are the positions of Seventh District Congressman D. French Slaughter Jr. As long as he maintains these positions he will get my vote. It will not be a vote against art and artists, but a vote for economic stability in government, and that’s good for all citizens.
BILL FITZSIMONS
Flint Hill
95.0%