Thinking about all the wild, modern art aboard our cruise ships got me thinking about this perennial chestnut, the story of how well-connected people with the right politics can get their “art” purchased for outrageous sums, not because it’s “good” art, but because it’s a form of purchasing influence. When Kamala Harris’s stepdaughter or Joe Biden’s son sell a work of art, there is—at some level—a transaction in access taking place. At the very least, there is a purchase of goodwill with powerful people and families and institutions. Art (or plum jobs or the like) provides a convenient vehicle for buying access that otherwise would be illegal: you can’t bribe a politician, but you can hire her homely stepdaughter to model or buy his son’s crappy paintings.

As much as this world of fine art influence peddling is distasteful, I think it’s something that elite Leftists get right—at least, in spirit. They actively support their own. Yes, there’s something luridly transactional about it, in that way that occurs when money and power intermingle incestuously, but it shows that they at least pay lip service to supporting their creatives. The Left has done that fairly well since at least the Works Progress Administration commissioned artists, writers, historians, musicologists, musicians, dramatists, radio hosts, etc., to produce works during the Great Depression.

Before the modern Left hit the scene, Gilded Age robber barons spent lavishly to support the arts, architecture, photography, and the like. Indeed, one argument I’ve read (and adopted) is that when these huge data centers roll into towns, they should exercise a degree of noblesse oblige and build parks, fund schools, contribute to libraries, and support the local economy through local hiring, etc.

Naturally, the Gilded Age model seems fundamentally and philosophically more aligned with this blog’s ethos—there’s a real risk to the national government using taxpayer dollars to fund garbage—but the idea of supporting your people is one that the Left gets right (of course, it’s easier to do that when you support your people with other people’s money).

I’ve made similar calls over the years, but it’s really important for conservatives to support one another’s endeavors, be they artistic or more traditionally business-oriented. There are signs of doing that when it comes to consumer products (just think of all the conservative spin-offs of products like coffee, soap, razors, chocolate, and the like). Folks on the Right tend to gravitate towards products that are more immediately and obviously usable.

But art is what moves culture, not a razorblade that’s just a Bic or Gillette rebranded. Tolkien, Lewis, Chesterton, Kirk—and on and on and on—these are the creators who shaped and continue to shape our culture.

Food for thought.

With that, here is 24 July 2025’s “TBT^16: Modern Art and Influence“:

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