"As some of you might recall, Ken Burns' film The Civil War was partially funded by the NEA and it, IMHO, is the one piece of patriotic filmmaking of recent years which will be long-remembered."
Who makes the decisions about which artist gets funding?
An executive board would. Stack it with neo-conservative luminaries, and only approve patriotic art and films.
Most of these people here sound like they'd oppose the construction of the Lincoln Memorial as 'socialistic'.