The silly debate over whether Fargo should somehow, some way provide a meager subsidy for publicly displayed art in the city should not be a debate at all. Of course it should. And Moorhead should, too.

Those opposing such an idea are your usual suspects who have their heads stuck deeply in the sand, or maybe even a much more personal location. But we’ll get back to those folks in a moment, only because we must.

I spent a few days last week in Philadelphia with the purpose of broadcasting reports about the Frozen Four college hockey tournament. My downtown hotel’s location was a few blocks from the southeast tip of the city’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway, a wonderful tree-lined boulevard flanked by paths, sculptures, parks and museums. It is a mile long, with the massive city hall at one end and the even more massive Philadelphia Museum of Art on the other. The Museum of Art is where Rocky Balboa ran up the steps and raised his arms in triumph at the top in one of Hollywood’s more memorable scenes.

Between the bookends are, yes, public sculptures, public museums, public parks and the public Free Library of Philadelphia. The art museum, the Rodin Museum, the Franklin Institute of Science, the Academy of Natural Sciences, Logan Square and other city-owned and operated entities line the parkway.

It is a tremendous area in one of America’s great cities, and on Saturday morning thousands of Philadelphians and tourists were using it. Franklin Parkway was the vision of Philly’s civic leaders in the early 1900s, who wanted to create a cultural center just off the heart of downtown. It’s worked.

Fargo-Moorhead is not Philadelphia and will never have a Franklin Parkway in size or scope. But we do culture just fine and we can do it better with the modest idea of public art displays. Fargo city commissioner Melissa Sobolik got things moving late last year by pitching a public art task force that was unanimously approved by her colleagues. The task force will have a small budget and come up with recommendations on ways to bring public art to Fargo. Eventually, the city could approve some money to commission art work.

Moorhead mayor Del Rae Williams has also advocated making the downtown area of her city arts-centered.

All the talk of (gasp) public art and (bigger gasp) public money had some conservative elements of our local media, the self-styled watchdogs of your tax money, grousing about public dollars going toward — and they all but hold their nose and scrunch up their face when they say it — art. It’s apparently a four-letter word to their “common sense” capabilities.

The opposition seems to stem from the idea tax dollars could be used to support something that doesn’t turn a profit, because profitability is the only measurement that matters to these “watchdogs.” Taking their argument to the extreme, there would be no parks, libraries, swimming pools or other amenities supported by tax dollars that don’t make money. Silly things like quality of life, sense of community and beautification don’t matter. Cash is the one and only king.

These regressive thinkers seem to have a special disdain about art (and the arts, for that matter). It borders on scornful and anti-intellectual, as if those who enjoy a sculpture or painting are solely a gang of pointy-headed, wine-sipping socialists.

Fargo-Moorhead is better than that. We are a growing, thriving, well-educated, progressive community that has room not only for business and manufacturing, but also entertainment, education and culture. That’s what makes a great city.

We’ll never be Philadelphia (nor do we want to be, in truth). But we can look at one slice of that city, the Franklin Parkway, and strive to emulate it the best we can, in our own modest way. We have Island Park. We have Broadway. We have Viking Ship Park. Perhaps we can do something in those places.

If that means spending a few bucks to commission some sculptures or paintings, so be it. It’s worth it. I saw it with my own eyes in Philadelphia.

(Mike McFeely is a talk-show host on 790 KFGO. His show airs from 2-5 p.m. weekdays.)