At some point in time (the early to mid 1990s, I think) the Republican party got its panties all atwist over two works of art, one by Robert Mapplethorpe, and one by Andres Serrano, both considered obscene. These works of art were sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. So the Republicans wanted to remove the whole institution, neglecting both the million or so other works of art the NEA sponsored and free speech to boot.