The bake sale as performance art

As the GOP nomination fight rolls on and questions about the political appropriateness of the TEA Party continue to simmer, your pie maker found delight in the irony that the most controversy seems to center on those who sell baked goods.  Now, is the bake-sale-as-performance-art a valid form of political expression?  Are there valid non-verbal forms of expression about how the currently powerful should feel about threats to their status?

It's unpleasant to think so, but the alternative is that we self-police to an extent that people only discuss things when they know everyone in the room agrees with us.  Oh, wait.  Is it wrong to implicitly challenge the consensus that regulatory arbitrage is the best way to address society's ills?    A "Town Hall" is likely to disintegrate into a shouting match or agreement-fest, depending on who attends, and there's so much more fun that we could have.

Anyone who seriously objects to this little protest has a very simple means of reprisal.  Set up a bake sale of your own, find a woman with enough Native American to qualify for free goods, and sell the BCR's goods to raise funds for things they hate.  Ah, but of course to do so points out what the performers were trying to say in the first place, that race-based arbitrage results in something seriously unpleasant, at least in the eyes of the BCR.

Instead, go for the "regifted fruitcake" approach.  Use the same woman to collect all of the baked goods, but then sell them based on net tax rate (highly regressive when one includes sales tax), and require proof of legal residency (or a bribe campaign contribution).  Keep a tupee handy in case someone tries to present a birth certificate.  To keep the "fruitcake" door open, make sure there's a category of people, say relatives of oil company workers or defense contractors, who can get them free as a "credit."  Extra credit would be to include a "bake sale to buy a bomber" reference.

There is no shortage of injustice in the world.  There's an even greater abundance of ill will and tender feelings surrounding identity issues.  Universities are where we should be able to discuss these realities, and art is an excellent tool when conventional language and forums fail.  Engagement, uncomfortable or not, leads to understanding.