Though some art forms, one perfect example of which is Hollywood movies, can bring in huge revenues for the government, most arts, like painting and music, do not directly bear on our life. However, this does not follow that the government should not invest in such arts.

In the first place, even if arts, when compared with education, health care system, and technologies, do not help much with the material aspects of our life, they do have much to do with our emotional and spiritual life. In fact, if we admit that our happiness consists not only in material contentment but also in spiritual satisfaction, we will have to admit that our life could not do without arts. When we feel sad, we can stand in front of the smiling Monalisa and very soon we may recover from our sadness and regain our peace of mind; we when are happy, we can dance with a beautiful piece of music, which will multiply our happiness.

Besides, arts may have an even more important role to play in getting people of a troubled nation united as one and fight the problem they have. We all know how Winston Churchill’s powerful speech had encouraged British people to fight Nazis bravely in the Second World War, and how Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream”had motivated African Americans to pursue the social justice they deserved in the Civil Rights Movement. Today, arts that have appeared right after 9/11 terrorist attack have in the same way effectively brought Americans together in face of the nightmare.

In summary, far from being illusionary and useless as some people might think, arts can be very important in our life, both to the individuals and to the nation as a whole. To maintain a healthy and robust society, therefore, the government should not marginalize the arts.