Oh Boy, this quote may get me in trouble

Off to the studio, more pictures of the painterly piece soon....but before slaving over a hot needle, this quote jumped off the page.
The state is not competent in artistic matters.....When the state leaves us free, it will have carried out its duty. Gustave Courbet

Well, that says it all...look at what has happened to the NEA and their grant process. Another example, not in the same vein, was all the art created to honor the Third Reich...no, I am not comparing this to the NEA, but you get the point. When any large public group starts telling artists what they can and cannot do, it is called censorship....and usually, ends up with some heavy duty propaganda.
Now don't get me wrong, we are surrounded by propaganda, every day...just turn on your television for awhile. The boomers are definitely the prominent demographic.....where would advertising be without rock and roll. While advertising is clever and occasionally, artfully done, it isn't art...nor should it be. Advertising is trying to sell us something; art is an attempt to see the world through another's eye.
In my former life, I wrote plenty of grants for the theatre....but they always came with a hook. So if you want to be a patron of the arts, be a patron, not an arbitrator. Money is good, selling work is good.....a proper exchange of energy but that is where it should end.
Speaking for myself only, the government stops at the studio door, even better it stops at the top of my skin.....not that occasionally it doesn't get under my skin, but that's another subject.
To the quote: work free of any should, could, or would....serve yourself and your art..no one else.