McCain as President: Do Fewer Civil Liberties Mean Better Art?

My fellow Americans, we find ourselves just days away from what will probably be one of the most memorable elections in any of our lives. What’s more is that we may be only moments away from electing our first black President and starting the process of cleaning up this Dartmouth-frat-house of a shit-show.

Those of you who haven’t been in a coma probably are aware that Barack Obama has a pretty good chance of winning (knock on wood), but I want to take a moment to be the devil’s advocate (no conservative pun intended) and imagine the opposite scenario. More specifically, I want to take this chance to reassure all of America’s artists that a McCain-Palin administration wouldn’t be the end of the world for their work. Please keep reading.

The best way of understanding my argument is to imagine some of the Republican ticket’s policies as catalysts for the creation of art. For example, let’s start with one of the more obvious inspirations: the Iraq War.

McCain has made it clear to every Joe-the-Plumber that we will not be sissies in Iraq and won’t go home until we have achieved his vague idea of “victory.” This being so, we could anticipate this war to drag out even further if he won—years, not months. Maybe then our younger generations will take the place of the burnt out 60s hippies in truly protesting what’s going on. And maybe then we can give them a counterculture that would rival that of the Vietnam days—when music, literature, and visual art could beg for Love while underscoring the horrors of needless bloodshed. I like John Mayer, but he’s no Hendrix, and, well, most hipsters are too busy in-fighting about their favorite indie band to join together under one particular anti-war creed.

Meanwhile, back on the home front, we could be dealing with the possibility of a heavily conservative Supreme Court. Roe v. Wade could be overturned, and constitutional amendments could be instated to ban gay marriage and alienate any number of “inalienable” rights. The outpouring of feverishly imaginative and angry literature that would result could put the old Feminists to shame and make our grandparents blush.

All wrapped up in absurd attacks on race, socioeconomic status, and religion that we’ve seen in this election is something fundamental and ever-present in the artistic output in the United States: what it means to be a “Real American.” For McCain to win at this point, ugly parts of America’s past and present would have to be exposed in a way that could result in race/culture/class wars—even if just in words. The stakes will be raised to a place that America hasn’t known in decades, and it will be left up to the most talented artists amongst us to bring their struggle to film, books, poetry, painting, and anything else in a way that might finally bring change.

Maybe we will finally have our own Steinbeck to distract us from the horrors of the market and the changes to our earth. Where are the Malcolm Xs, Janis Joplins, or Andy Warhols of today? Who will create the next “Guernica?” In the face of this social turmoil, where are the successors of our past artistic greatness?

I am convinced that if the state of our country gets any worse, our art can only get better. I also do not doubt that the euphoria of an Obama victory could also be equally, if not more, stimulating—for better and worse.

Of course, there is a significant downside for art if McCain wins. With a McCrazy budget, we could see less money going to education and already under-funded, public school arts programs would nearly evaporate. Kids with otherwise great artistic potential might join the rot and be forgotten by history.

On top of this, a great stigma has been constructed by the Republicans against the term “elitist.” They have created the sense that educated people must apologize for their educations. The only acceptable worldview becomes a dumbed-down version, and the same could become true of art. Rather than psychological or impressionistic abstraction in visual art, we might see a rise in symbols and iconography. All hail the celebration of ignorance and irrationality!

In the same way George W. Bush did in 2000, country music stars who have pushed the limits on race, religion, and “patriotism” might consider a Republican victory a blank check from the Right’s majority to push the envelope a little more. Perhaps Toby Keith will go farther than simply writing and recording a pro-lynching song like he did earlier this year and actually incite the horrific violence that those in Faulkner’s era described at length.

This is the moment in Dickens when the Ghost of Christmas Future tells you that everything I just said is only supposition, and we have the ability to save our country, the world, and even art with a simple choice. I can’t say I won’t be a little disappointed that creative Americans won’t realize their greatest anger if Obama wins, but don’t worry about us; we can always find something to be upset about.

—Columnist Andrew F. Nunnelly can be reached at nunnelly@fas.harvard.edu.