pnArt

(Disclaimer:  I’m not in an artist’s co-op and I have no position on House 3686 – “AN ACT RELATIVE TO ELIGIBILITY FOR COOPERATIVE HOUSING CORPORATIONS” )

Recently Arts League of Lowell members received a missive from Artists Under The Dome (AUD) regarding a piece of state legislation deemed by them to be a threat to artists’ co-ops, exhorting Massachusetts artists to take a stand against this legislation. But the message didn’t explain what the threat was; instead it provided a link to the bill. I read the bill but couldn’t figure out the issue so I emailed AUD.

I told them they should have spelled it out for those of us not following this topic or who are not skilled at reading legislative language. I suggested that they should have had the message reviewed by someone familiar with communicating with the general public.

I received a response from the organization assuring me that it had been reviewed by their lawyer and political advisor. I pointed out that those people were, no doubt, familiar with the issue and with reading legislatese so they were not good choices for assessing whether the rest of us could “get it”.

In response the AUD contact said the most remarkable thing I’ve ever heard in a political discussion: “Again thank you for taking the time to email - if you gave me your phone number I would tell you WHY we sent out what we did due to legal reasons- which can not be put in writing.”

Now, silly me, I was under the impression that one reason why we have free speech in the US is so we can discuss political matters. And that opinions about the merits or lack thereof of legislation is not only protected speech, but encouraged. Yet here we have an organization allegedly representing Massachusetts artists in the rough and tumble world of Beacon Hill politics that doesn’t even have the courage of their convictions to put in writing why they object to a bill! They say they’re going to bat for us but apparently their attorney has advised them to take a base on balls because if they swing the bat they might hit something!

Imagine if historical figures felt that way -   “We don’t like the Stamp Act but on the advice of our attorneys we can’t say why” or “Slavery doesn’t agree with me but my lawyer says I shouldn’t get too specific about it”.

The Cowardly Lion reflected:

What makes a King out of a slave?

What makes the flag on the mast to wave?

What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist or the dusky dusk?

What makes the muskrat guard his musk?

. . . Good questions. Just don’t ask Artists Under The Dome.

When my car registration renewal arrived yesterday from the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles it came with sponsorship. Seven 3.5 by 6.5 inch advertisements - perfect for a business envelope – fluttered out along with my registration form. Known as “buckslips”, these advertising inserts promoted car insurance, oil-change services, a local gym and other businesses trying to reach an audience of automobile owners still in a spending mood despite the economy and the State’s $41 registration fee.

My wife and I take pains to avoid being advertised-to. We keep a recycling bin on the way from the mailbox to the house and junk mail never gets past it. We have strong spam-blocking on our email and ad-blockers on our browsers and we don’t watch TV. But how do you block out the government?

According to the Tax Foundation, Massachusetts has the highest per capita total state debt in the country at over $10,000 per citizen – about three times the national average. Years of political fiscal mismanagement have put the “Commonwealth” into a hole deeper than the Big Dig – one of the major contributors to the problem. In the case of the Registry of Motor Vehicles this has resulted in commercial sponsorship, cutbacks in hours of operation, elimination of license-renewal reminders, and such desperation-measures as printing registrations on cheap paper instead of the traditional card stock at a savings of about 2 cents per driver.

Any revenues gained or money saved do not go to the Registry, but instead are directed to the State’s general funds, which virtually eliminates any incentive for Registry staff or managers to look seriously at cost-saving ideas.

Times are tough all over, and the Registry’s travails are only a small slice of the Commonwealth’s shrinking fiscal pie. But when you’re in hock as deep as Massachusetts, your fiscal wiggle-room is more limited because debt-service is one part of your budget you can’t cut, so everything else must absorb deeper cuts. Programs all over the state are being chopped and local aid has been slashed, so local governments are also cutting and pink-slipping. It’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when the tunnel is closed because its maintenance workers have been laid-off.