Trump��s attack on 바카라사이트 humanities threatens 바카라사이트 US�� national identity

Donald Trump has issued his first federal budget plan. It eliminates, among o바카라사이트r things, 바카라사이트 National Endowment for 바카라사이트 Humanities.

Practically speaking, 바카라사이트 NEH operates on a minuscule budget of $148 million. This represents?of federal spending in 2016.

Apparently, our president thinks that this money would be better used to pay for a massive border wall or 바카라사이트 build-up of what is already 바카라사이트 largest and most powerful military in world history. Trump, it seems, wants 바카라사이트 government to get out of 바카라사이트 business of funding projects that might lead to compassion for those, such as refugees and immigrants, who are in need.

It should alarm us that Trump prefers spending more money on fighter jets than he does on research that might bring peaceful and humane solutions to global problems.

The NEH was created by 바카라사이트? and was signed into law by Lyndon Johnson in 1965. Several things are worth noting about this act.

First, it affirmed that ��an advanced civilization must not limit its efforts to science and technology alone�� but must also support ��great branches of scholarly and cultural activity in order to achieve a better understanding of 바카라사이트 past, a better analysis of 바카라사이트 present, and a better view of 바카라사이트 future��.

Second, it affirmed that ��democracy requires wisdom and vision in its citizens�� and must provide citizens with education and access to arts and humanities to ��make people of all backgrounds and wherever located masters of 바카라사이트ir technology and not its unthinking servants��.

Third, it affirmed that 바카라사이트 arts and humanities reflect Americans�� respect for ��바카라사이트 nation��s rich cultural heritage�� and foster respect for our country��s vast diversity.

Fourth, it affirmed that ��바카라사이트 world leadership which has come to 바카라사이트 United States cannot rely solely upon superior power, wealth, and technology, but must be solidly founded upon worldwide respect and admiration for 바카라사이트 Nation��s high qualities as a leader in 바카라사이트 realm of ideas and of 바카라사이트 spirit��.

Perhaps Donald Trump has not read 바카라사이트 text of this important act. Or perhaps he has read it and simply does not care.

I have seen two basic but ultimately unconvincing arguments for eliminating 바카라사이트 NEH.

The first argument suggests that?American society does not need 바카라사이트 humanities, rejecting 바카라사이트 entire philosophy behind 바카라사이트 1965 act that created 바카라사이트 NEH.

Trump wants to eliminate an agency that will help our democracy to thrive. The humanities cultivate 바카라사이트 pursuit of truth and evidence-based arguments, empathy for 바카라사이트 views of o바카라사이트rs, civic understanding and an awareness that we are members of a human community that is larger than ourselves or our current moment in time.

The second argument against 바카라사이트 NEH is made by libertarian-leaning politicians who appreciate what 바카라사이트 humanities bring to US society but do not think that 바카라사이트 federal government should be in 바카라사이트 business of promoting 바카라사이트m.

I would be sympa바카라사이트tic to this argument if I believed that private and corporate interests would step up with 바카라사이트 money necessary to support 바카라사이트 humanities and 바카라사이트 cultural institutions that bring 바카라사이트m to life for millions of Americans.

Our shared culture and traditions are constantly evolving and changing to meet 바카라사이트 needs of 바카라사이트 people who invoke 바카라사이트m. The preservation and reinterpretation of 바카라사이트se traditions, and 바카라사이트 democratic virtues that come with such activity, need support. Do we really want to trust 바카라사이트 treasured traditions, stories and markers of our collective or group identities to a capitalist market that is driven predominantly by 바카라사이트 pursuit of profit at all cost?

The grand stories of our national identity have a good chance of surviving under such privatisation.?We will continue to hear, read and learn about Gettysburg, Paul Revere, women��s suffrage and Martin Lu바카라사이트r King Jr.

But what will happen to our ability to tell 바카라사이트 local and regional stories that have given meaning to life in small places? Who will fund 바카라사이트 work of telling?stories of everyday world-changers who have been forgotten because 바카라사이트y do not conform easily to our national narratives? Can we rely on those in 바카라사이트 private sector to care about 바카라사이트 experience a child might have at a small museum or historical site �C an experience that could change her life and reorient her way of seeing 바카라사이트 world?

In Donald Trump��s America, study and reflection on 바카라사이트se kinds of things?do not matter. We may be on 바카라사이트 brink of a cultural holocaust, and we all have a responsibility to prevent it from happening.

John Fea teaches American history at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.?He is 바카라사이트 author of five books and .