Opinion: If the National Endowment for the Arts works so well, coastal elites should pay for it, not all taxpayers

To the editor: Art critic Christopher Knight says that the National Endowment for the Arts works. One must ask the question, “It works for whom?” (“The NEA works. Why does Trump want to destroy it?” March 16)

Does the NEA work for the unemployed, the underemployed trying to make ends meet, crime victims or inner-city youth trying to just cope?

It seem that the vast majority of NEA supporters reside in the Northeast and on the West Coast. If the NEA is that valuable, then there are more than enough wealthy people there to join together and support it themselves.

Robert Smith, Covina

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To the editor: Before President Trump eliminates the NEA, as his budget sets out to do, he should read the recent Time magazine article, “Trump can thank the arts for his wealth.”

This piece, which reports how much of Trump’s real-estate empire owes its value to nearby NEA-funded institutions, should be required reading for anyone who believes that the arts don’t contribute to a central role in the economic and societal health of the country. To paraphrase President Obama, he didn’t build it.

Daniel Katzen, La Cañada Flintridge

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