If you’ve publicly complained about where your taxes are going over the last couple of years, by now you’ve gotten used to liberals telling you to shut up. But did you know that doing so could qualify you for a government grant?
A Republican lawmaker on Wednesday grilled the chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts over grants to San Francisco mimes and an international accordion festival.
“Those just kind of grants lend themselves to ridicule,” said Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing. “These are a bit tough to justify … how can we justify these types of grants?”
Flake questioned NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman over a number of grants, including those to an international accordion festival and to the San Francisco Mime Troupe. Making grants like these “feeds the cynicism out there about everything we do,” Flake said…
“The marketplace shouldn’t be the sole determinant of what is allowed to flourish,” Landesman said, adding that the renowned San Francisco Mime Troupe would likely not be able to survive solely on ticket sales.
If a mime can’t climb the imaginary ladder in San Francisco, where can he climb it?
When they came for the cowboy poets, I said nothing. When they came for the mimes… [FURROWS EYEBROWS, SLAPS HANDS OVER MOUTH]
(Hat tip: Andrew Stiles at NRO)