# "One Nation Under Socialism" painting **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 22, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514 "2012-03-22T16:59:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/1 "2012-03-22T16:59:31Z")
Check out this awesome painting of Obama setting fire to the Constitution: > **[Here's a Cool New Painting of Obama Burning the Constitution](https://www.gawker.com/5895348/heres-a-cool-new-painting-of-obama-burning-the-constitution)** > > Behold, "One Nation Under Socialism," a new masterpiece from America's Da Vinci, Jon McNaughton. (Previously best known for that one painting of Obama stepping on the constitution.) With it, McNaughton carries on in the tradition of some the 20th... Somehow, though, I feel it’s missing something. It would have been improved if the artist had made Obama’s eyesockets hollow with blood streaming from them. And if he put a dead fetus in his hand. He might as well go full bore, right? I don’t think he quite gets the point across that Obama is evil. Anyway, I love the image that the artist, Jon McNaughton, uses to promote the painting on his Web site, as if this were something you’d just hang up innocuously in your living room, like a still life of flowers. [http://www.mcnaughtonart.com/page/view\_collection/Patriotic/421](http://www.mcnaughtonart.com/page/view_collection/Patriotic/421) ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/2 "2012-03-22T17:10:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Behold, “One Nation Under Socialism,” a new masterpiece from America’s Da Vinci, Jon McNaughton. (Previously best known for that one painting of Obama stepping on the constitution.) With it, McNaughton carries on in the tradition of some the 20th century’s finest figurative artists. Buy two — one for now, and one to trade when Nobama hands control of the country over to the Black Panthers. I honestly cannot decide whether this is serious or mocking. The painting itself is too far into self-parody territory to be of any useful comparison… ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/3 "2012-03-22T17:23:32Z")
[This one’s much more interesting.](http://www.mcnaughtonart.com/page/view_collection/Patriotic/353) ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/4 "2012-03-22T17:27:49Z")
That’s Poe’s Law in action. In this case, it might mean that McNaughton has two markets for his work: people who believe that the painting is a parody of crazy extremists, and the crazy extremists. The money spends the same regardless. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/5 "2012-03-22T17:36:29Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > [This one’s much more interesting.](http://www.mcnaughtonart.com/page/view_collection/Patriotic/353) That’s awesome! ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/6 "2012-03-22T17:38:54Z")
Personally, I’m most offended at the degradation of the phrase “fine art”. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/7 "2012-03-22T17:48:04Z")
You know what this shit reminds me of, ironically ? The wave of “realist” art in Soviet Russia under Stalin, with allegories so subtle they might as well have been delivered with a sledgehammer. It’s fascinating, really. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/8 "2012-03-22T17:49:38Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > [This one’s much more interesting.](http://www.mcnaughtonart.com/page/view_collection/Patriotic/353) [Here’s a version with better mouseovers](http://www.shortpacked.com/McNaughton%20Fine%20Art.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/9 "2012-03-22T17:56:53Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Anyway, I love the image that the artist, Jon McNaughton, uses to promote the painting on his Web site, as if this were something you’d just hang up innocuously in your living room, like a still life of flowers. Hey, the first draft was probably Obama wiping his ass with the Bible, which really only works well on the bathroom wall. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/10 "2012-03-22T17:59:46Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > [Here’s a version with better mouseovers](http://www.shortpacked.com/McNaughton%20Fine%20Art.htm) Some of those mouseovers are pretty darned funny! ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/11 "2012-03-22T18:05:42Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > [This one’s much more interesting.](http://www.mcnaughtonart.com/page/view_collection/Patriotic/353) [thread=534965]We even did it before![/thread] ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/12 "2012-03-22T19:10:03Z")
Here’s what one art critic had to say about it: > [@](#): > > CBSDC contacted Jerry Saltz, an art critic for New York Magazine, about the painting. > > When asked for an opinion, Saltz said that the painting contained “bad academic derivative realism,” calling it “typical propaganda art, drop-dead obvious in message” and “visually dead as a doornail.” > > “It panders and preaches to the converted and tells them what they already believe,” Saltz told CBSDC. > > Saltz said the painting could not be compared to WWII art. > > “It has no graphic power of its own. It simply attempts to crawl into the body of that sort of illustration.” > > When asked if removed a few years from Obama’s presidency could the work be then viewed as art, Saltz said the work is “inverted, with an American as an enemy — Hitler, Tojo, Stalin, whoever.” > > “It’s much closer to the hate images produced in Germany pre-1939, in 1950s USA Red scare, in the USA around Jim Crow, etc.” > **[CBS News | Breaking news, top stories & today's latest headlines](https://www.cbsnews.com/)** > > CBS News offers breaking news coverage of today's top headlines. Stay informed on the biggest new stories with our balanced, trustworthy reporting. ---
**Author:** ![Beastly\_Rotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@Beastly\_Rotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beastly_Rotter)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/13 "2012-03-22T19:16:17Z")
Hey, it’s Emperor Palpatine! ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/14 "2012-03-22T19:22:31Z")
I like how he’s pointing at it, in case you didn’t notice it. “You see this here? This is the Constitution. I’m burning it. That’s why it’s on fire.” ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/15 "2012-03-22T19:32:06Z")
The OP art is incomplete. He is holding the constitution with his right hand, he should be flipping a big Fuck You finger with his left. The lack of imagination in protest art is an example of why our kids ain’t learning. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/16 "2012-03-22T19:47:10Z")
[One Nation Under a Groove](http://dj.polishedsolid.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/one-nation-under-a-groove-front2.jpg). 🆒 ETA: OMFG … he’s not only derivative, he’s derivative of _[Thomas Kinkade](http://www.mcnaughtonart.com/page/view_collection/Most%20Popular/163)_! ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/17 "2012-03-22T20:00:02Z")
Hey, in the earlier painting Jesus had the Constitution…how did Obama get it away from him? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/18 "2012-03-22T20:21:18Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Hey, in the earlier painting Jesus had the Constitution…how did Obama get it away from him? Jesus has the proper long form constitution. Obama’s is a short-form hospital constitution. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/19 "2012-03-22T20:44:58Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Hey, in the earlier painting Jesus had the Constitution…how did Obama get it away from him? Won it in a basketball game. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514/20 "2012-03-22T20:48:20Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Hey, in the earlier painting Jesus had the Constitution…how did Obama get it away from him? Stole it using an open-palm terrorist fist jab. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-nation-under-socialism-painting/616514.md?page=2)