No one is likely to accuse TIME art critic Robert Hughes of pulling his punches. An Australian by birth, Hughes pursues his writing with a refined pugnacity that leaves no doubt as to his personal point of view. "If someone is acting like a fool or hypocrite," he says, "I think you should say so, and say why."
His targets in this week's cover story are the conservatives--notably the Republican leadership in Congress--who are trying to kill the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as public broadcasting. He attacks the subject with a...