“Who wants to read old books?” an education lobbyist told me in resisting my suggestion to lobby against the elitist Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. Well, at least in the past, it turns out that many plebes did, not just the upper-class. Check out The Classics in the Slums, an essay by Jonathan Rose (pictured here) in City Journal from the conservative Manhattan Institute.
A great way for George Bush and fellow Republicans to celebrate his victory would be to repeal Bono and encourage use of the Net to spread around the classics–old and new. If the President wants to build national unity and promote American culture, why not make it easier for young people to read and enjoy it?
Reminder: I’m a lifelong liberal Democrat sick of the hypocrisy of so many in my party. Remember the term “limousine liberal”? I propose a more modern substitute for Dan Glickman, Hilary Rosen and the like. How about “Bono liberal”? Signed by Bill Clinton, the Bono Act was a bipartisan atrocity. The first party to realize that will be rewarded at the polls when the public finally loses its media-tolerated ignorance of copyright law and cares about the Act’s multibillion-dollar copyright giveaway.
(Thanks to Rochelle for bringing the Rose essay to my attention.)
Reading the Rose essay was a pleasure – having gone back to getting a “Classical Education” in my 50’s. My father had to leave school at 14, but he introduced me to the world of literature when I was very young, travelling into the city every fortnight to bring home a large bag of books from a well-stocked public library (in Sydney, Australia). I was educated at a state school, but did study Latin for some years. After a lifetime of working in demanding jobs I have now decided to resume my academic education. I wish more people could be given this understanding of the background to our society, philosophical beliefs, religion and law.