I wrote this as the Academy Awards show approached, and the attendees had been admonished to be less political, as if that were possible for the current crop of Liberals, who seem to be in the act of spontaneously combusting every time they hear the words President Trump. But seriously, even if they don't overtly mention politics, their movies are often little more than anti Conservative diatribes, tricked out as a sorry excuse for a movie.

However, the fault is not entirely due to Liberal prejudice. This is my answer to Republicans who complain that Liberals in Hollywood, in book publishing, and in music don't represent Conservatives. I have to laugh whenever I see that point of view in my social media feed or in some lofty and very serious Conservative publication. Guess what, Conservatives, you are in all the movies, all the television shows, all the novels. Haven't you noticed? You are the villain. You're the bad guy. Your ideas are mocked, misrepresented and scorned, because that is how Liberals see you.

For the last thirty years, Democrats have characterized Republicans as mean, greedy, ignorant bigots and worse. And yet the right leaning Washington Examiner is "especially interested in publishing tightly reasoned, factually based and timely op-eds." But, as Blaise Pascal has observed, "The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know." Why do Republicans show so little interest in the heart's reasons? Are they all like "Dragnet's" Joe Friday? "Just the facts, ma'am," no emotions allowed? 

It is difficult to gain people's trust and admiration, if you lack the confidence to speak from the heart and about matters of the heart, the very matters that contemporary culture alone can address. If Republicans are ever to regain their own as well as their country's confidence, they must toil and moil in the lowly furrows of everyday life: pop culture.

All pundits live in Punditville, where their days are spent dashing off one thought provoking essay after another on the passing political scene. Great events are important and interesting, but most of us find deeper meaning in our daily struggles, and a story or a song can be just the thing to speed us along toward our goals. This is what culture provides: guideposts, encouragement, sympathy, dignity and enlightenment. 

My husband was an actor, so I have witnessed the power theater has to cast a spell over a sea of disorganized, curious, various spectators and turn them into an attentive audience who hunger for answers. What makes us laugh? What makes us cry? What inspires us? To what do we aspire? What is justice? What is generosity? What is truth? What is love? And most important, who am I?

Creating and supporting culture is a service to our fellow man. I doubt if human life is possible without culture. It is every bit as important as government, science, religion, economics or any of the other pillars that keep society from descending back into barbarism. 

Since Republicans rarely even bother to comment on the arts, let alone participate in their creation, they have no street cred. They have no widely read and trusted periodical to speak authoritatively and persuasively about the contemporary scene. If some poor artist were unwise enough to waste their time and talent telling a story from a Republican point of view, it would require nothing short of divine intervention for that effort to succeed.

Republicans should remember that, though they may revere the classics, those classics were once contemporary works of art. Choosing silence today is choosing to leave no legacy tomorrow.

The Democrat collectivist mentality can produce only propaganda, not art. It seems long overdue for the Republicans to share and celebrate the triumphs and heartbreaks of individual achievement, acts of faith, courage and love, in all the myriad manifestations of story, song and art. What better way can there be to restore our country's confidence in the beguiling power of freedom to lift individuals and nations to the highest possible greatness and goodness? 

"But truth is most likely to be exhibited by the general sense of contemporaries, when the feelings of the heart can be expressed without suffering itself to be disguised by the prejudices of man." Mercy Otis Warren, playwright, poet, historian, the "Muse of the Revolution".

As to the argument that the Conservative temperament is not inclined to be artistic, I say PHOOEY. Did Hollywood not produce Ronald Reagan? John Wayne? Shirley Temple? And there are many, many more. Even today, there are numerous Republican actors in Hollywood, but to admit it is to be branded with the mark of Cain in all social media. Throughout history, there have been artists in all fields passionately telling Conservative stories. 

If you believe the arts are inherently prurient and that people of high moral standards don't sully their hands with such things, you've been misled. Art in all its forms has always been an integral part of Western culture, and walked side by side with Christianity, freedom and individual rights. So, hogwash, Conservatives, I won't accept that excuse. We must speak for ourselves and tell stories that move us, if American culture is ever to become vibrant and inspiring again. Yes, indeed, this is another way we can Make America Great Again.