Last night on PBS I watched The Question of God - Sigmund Freud & C.S. Lewis, a round table discussion of the atheistic philosophy of Freud contrasted and compared with the Christian philosophy of C.S. Lewis. (I know, I also faithfully watch "Survivor." Call me schizophrenic.)

It occurred to me while watching this 145 minute excercise in navel gazing that a society can support this sort of intellectual self-absorption only to the extent that it creates capital in excess of its survival needs.

Throughout history, excess capital was usually fairly limited and channeled through religion. Since the industrial revolution, however, excess capital has been heavily taxed by governments, which have replaced the church as the primary distributor. The result has been the transformation of art from religious didacticism to secular pomposity. That is, Michelangelo's Pieta has been replaced by a crucifix in a bottle of urine. Both paid for by societal contributions to the church and government respectively.

I would venture to suggest that today's society produces enough capital that the arts no longer need government patronage and should be compelled to compete in the free market, not subsidized by the taxpayers.