Dennis Fodor writes:

>A system that forced the market to coddle CM would be called by more
>"conservative" thinkers a "teleocratic "system--a command system, one
>might also term it.  With the weight of convention running in favor of CM,
>I personally would rather see its problem handled by laissez-passer types
>like von Mises than the more elitist ones like, say, Oakeshott.

After so much extremist rhetoric, I am pleased to watch the unfolding of
this issue within genial and reasonable parameters.  I see the good sense
in the statement above.  I even think parents with schoolchildren who
themselves are not particularly attracted to classical music in general
want their children to be, if only because like good pronunciation it is
a helpful familiarity to have when one competes in the marketplace.

There are other ways by which government encouragement of the arts
can be enhanced with the heavy-hand of the empire-building bureaucracy.
The observation "do as I do and not as I say" applies to our President.
He is more than just our chief executive.  He is a model and if he likes
classical music and requests in performance at White House functions that
would do more to promote classical music and expose young people to it than
almost anything else.  Other high government officials like the justices of
the Supreme Court, the Cabinet and Congress ought to be encouraged not to
hide their light under a bushel, but when they love classical music it is
perfectly appropriate for them to demonstrate it in quite a public way.

Andres E. Carlan