Yesterday, Art Scatter thought about replacing whatever constitutes the guiding principle of U.S. foreign policy (I know, we don’t really have one, a guiding principle, I mean) with a new one — the preservation, encouragement and support of art-making around the world. Today, we move from the global to the local and dream about what would happen if our city (in this case Portland, Oregon) did the same thing and organized itself around the same idea.

We are prompted to this by the news yesterday that the mayor had developed a budget that was shy on support for the arts, the pet project of one of his rivals on City Council (who may well succeed the mayor in the top spot). If you live in Portland and environs, you know I’m talking about Mayor Tom Potter and Sam Adams.

This is not an explicitly political site. We don’t know much about the mayor’s budget, just what we read in the paper. Now, we have no evidence that what the paper implied — that this was Potter getting back at an antagonist — is true. And we aren’t even clear about what Adams was proposing specifically. We’d probably disagree with his priorities if we did! We do know that, with former mayor Vera Katz, Adams has championed the city’s artists, designers and the creative economy in general more than any other elected official we can remember, though Portland has had its share of arts-friendly council members (cheers to Mike Lindberg!). Now, we are imagining that he has seen the wisdom of throwing all his chips into the pot on the creativity card. And we are loving the city of our dreams.

We at Art Scatter consistently underestimate the power of art, of creative thought, mainly because we frequently see it honored more by its suppression (direct or cultural) than by its application. The freedom and the tools to make — a poem, an urban plan, a building, a pop song, an art installation, a great pair of hiking boots, whatever — there’s just nothing quite like it. And a great pair of boots, it turns out, is a far greater invention than a sub-prime mortgage instrument.

So, yesterday we imagined peace in the Middle East; today, the most inventive city we can think of. We’re getting off this Utopian kick tomorrow and back into our usual modes — which involve gloom and decrepitude. Yummy!