Government should subsidize my poetic life

As a poet myself, I certainly feel qualified to argue from a poet's perspective without the need for the government to subsidize me with a monthly stipend for poetry writing. I will begin with rebuttals, then provide a poem I wrote about my own cat. At this point, I see no reason to raise my own arguments as most of them are encaptured in my rebuttals. Rebuttals I. Your poems are not benefiting the nation. My opponent starts off with the claim that his poems benefit the nation. His justification is that art is important to culture and that - without art - the nation has no hope. I find this to be an indirect justification and an informal fallacy known as 'Appeal to Consequences' [1] which is when an argument concludes a hypotheses to be true due to the undesirable consequences. [1] . http://en.wikipedia.org...To win this line of argumentation, my opponent would first need to provide proper justification for the base premise that "without art. .. the nation has no hope". As it stands now, neither I, nor the audience, have any reason to believe that this is indeed the case or that the nation would have no hope without art. My opponent would further need to show how his poems, in particular, benefit the nation. II. Poetry and Culture did not defeat the Russians. My opponent ends his opening paragraph with the claim that we (U. S. ) defeated the Russians with poetry and culture. When exactly did this happen? I don't believe the Cold War was won by utilizing those means. My opponent, in order to win this line of argumentation, needs to show how it was poetry and culture that defeated Russia (while also showing when exactly this took place). III. 5-10 poems per month =/= $2,000 + Benefits from government. It seems generally unreasonable to demand that the government provide Pro with $2,000 a month, tax free, along with food-stamps, free medical care, and help with the electric bills for a mere 5-10 poems a month. I am not too aware of many poets being gifted with such pleasantries. Since this goes against the status quo, my opponent needs to show why exactly he deserves such things. Both I and the audience need to be shown the standards used to determine the worth of each of these poems and then see how that worth equals the type of payment you are demanding. According to current welfare statistics, the government currently spends around $131.9 billion on welfare alone (alone meaning that food stamps and unemployment are not included in that figure). [2][2] . http://www.statisticbrain.com...With those statistics in mind, I don't find it unreasonable for me to say that this debate boils down to whether Pro's poetry is really worth the added burden placed on the government to fund his 5-10 poems a month. I don't believe they are, and it is up to Pro to provide justification or proof that his poems are worth the addition burden to us, the taxpayer. **Poem about my cat**As the clock strikes midnight, I notice her paws tremblequick jolts of motion, leaving a faint sound as her claw catches clothis she having a dream? A perfect being, soothing is her low hum as she purrs to unknown imagesher teeth clicking slightly as she nibbles on the warm summer airher smooth black coat shimmers with luminance under the tempered lightfull-moon tonight, perhaps in her dream she is a wild beaststill clawing the surrounding oak wood trees, marking her place in the jungleor perhaps she is pawing the sand, as she sits at the edge of a streama stream of consciousness, fleeting thoughts, she jumps suddenly as if stirred by a fierce windher eyelids open quick;y, pupils large - yet slantedunlike any other mammal, her eyes are that of a lizardyet the warmth of my hand quickly assures hereverything is as it should bethe scent of my skin is acutely noticed, she sniffs with intentaccepting, she nudges her face against my lapconforming to my curves, she catches my eye and meowsa low, yet quick hello, acknowledging her fellow beastand just as sudden as she rose, she fell back into slumberthe clocks strikes half past midnight,I wonder. .. is she having a dream?