Political Quotes

“I just think there are three things: One, do you believe in the arts? Secondly, do you believe in the government being in the arts? And thirdly, how much money is involved? I do not think there is any question about the first issue. I do not think anybody who is adamantly opposed to the government being in the arts opposes the arts. I mean, it is clear that there is tremendous benefit to our society, to our children, all of the richness of our lives. So the second thing is, should the government be in the arts? I really think it should. I will tell my colleagues why. I will give an example of a particular program that years ago was trying to start up an arts camp in Massachusetts. They could not get any money. It was unproven. They were not sure it was the right thing to do. So they finally got a 5-year grant, I think it was $5,000 a year, from the NEA, which clearly was not enough to cover the program but it was enough to signal to the other program on the outside, this is really worthy of something because the National Endowment for the Arts of the United States is supporting this.”