An artist’s life is difficult, nigh impossible.
Creative art alone can rarely support a budding painter, dancer, or singer. Artists are often forced to choose between raising a family or the possessive zeal to create.
Wealthy patrons spend multiple millions of dollars at lavish art markets such as the Venice Biennale and Art Basel on a few “superstar” artists. But the vast majority of artists struggle to make a living. Just read this RAND study.
Political columnist Charles P. Pierce aptly blames the government shutdown on a single House of Congress, which he describes as “a more lethal combination of political ambition, political stupidity, and political vainglory” than any other in the history of the U.S.
The Esquire pundit slams the House for shutting down the federal government “because it disapproves of a law passed by a previous Congress, signed by the president, and upheld by the Supreme Court, a law that does nothing more than extend the possibility of health insurance to the millions of Americans who do not presently have it.”
He calls Congress an “ungovernable collection of snake-handlers.” I think he nailed it.