The Fultondale Arts Council has recently requested funding from the city of Fultondale, which brings up the larger question of whether government at any level should shoulder the responsibility of funding the arts.

Originally, the federal government was intended to protect the people from harm. It was meant for the common defense. But we have long since reinvented what our federal responsibilities are. Beginning with Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, the government ceased to be solely about the common defense, but also about the common protection of the American way of life.

That very way of life is arguably defined in no small part by our art and culture.

In a world of tragedy such as we have had lately — with tornado devastation locally and similar damage from storms and floods nationally — we do not want to lose the arts. We must ask ourselves: What would we lose if arts councils and similar organizations did not exist?

Obviously, if we cut out programs designed to educate and encourage critical and creative programs, we will negate a segment of the population that needs such an outlet. Not everyone is wired to perform a high degree of math or recognize chemical compounds. Some individuals are made to be writers, artists, musicians or speakers.

But the question remains: Is it the government’s job to fund such endeavors? It is true that “the borrower is servant to the lender” — in other words, government subsidies usually come with strings attached. The arts tend to flourish with or without help from the government. Arguably, more creativity flows from individual efforts that are not molded by criteria put into place when grants or other sources of funding are issued.

As important as individual expression is in the United States, perhaps even more significant are projects on a larger scale that help record and preserve the American story. We saw this in action during the Depression when the government dispatched writers, painters, architects and artists of all varieties to paint murals, record oral histories and generally create works of art and literature now common to the American tapestry. Without that effort, much of what we know from that time would be lost forever. For that reason, we see the value of government helping keep the arts afloat.