"The Forgotten Man"

[AZRedhawk44]

I thought this was a very moving painting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KGlBHyVeYU&feature=player_embedded


http://www.mcnaughtonart.com/

http://www.mcnaughtonart.com/artwork/view_zoom/?artpiece_id=379

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

Why is Grover Cleveland on Obama's side?

[AJ Dual]

Why is Grover Cleveland on Obama's side?

Dunno.

It's hard to say where the artist's "bad guys" end, and just the "background" of less notable POTUS begins. (shrug)

Overall, the artist's other work made me do the "raise a finger like I was about to say something, then walk away instead."-thing, but I was too lazy to find the .jpg of that.

And as a Libertarian, his symbolism and groupings of the Presidents raises a whole other set of objections to me he's not really addressing in his more straightforward left/right, socialist/capitalist dichotomy he's trying to create.

Oh... and In before the move to politics. 

[Tallpine]

Lincoln should have been applauding 

[AJ Dual]

Lincoln should have been applauding 

Exactly.

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

It's hard to say where the artist's "bad guys" end, and just the "background" of less notable POTUS begins. (shrug)

I suppose. Maybe he just ran out of room... or got sick of researching presidents. 
Interesting picture, though.

For those who don't know, Cleveland was one of the best presidents that we've ever had (certainly the best Democrat president), if not the best. A quote:

I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and duty of the general government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit. A prevalent tendency to disregard the limited mission of this power and duty should, I think, be steadfastly resisted, to the end that the lesson should be constantly enforced that, though the people support the government, the government should not support the people.
The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon to relieve their fellow-citizens in misfortune. This has been repeatedly and quite lately demonstrated. Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character, while it prevents the indulgence among our people of that kindly sentiment and conduct which strengthens the bonds of a common brotherhood.

[RevDisk]

Damn moving painting.  I do agree that he might have done a better job on the grouping.

I'll probably buy a print anyways. 

[Nitrogen]

This painting is somewhat less silly than the one with Jesus holding the constitution.

[kgbsquirrel]

If you go to his website and click on the faces of the presidents in the painting it brings up a small blurb about them on the side giving some insight into his arrangement, Lincoln for example:

Abraham Lincoln
16th President
1861-1865
National Debt: 2.680 Billion

Lincoln is a popular president for having preserved the Union during the Civil War and abolished slavery and continued democratic elections even during the war. But during the Civil War, Lincoln appropriated powers no previous President had wielded: he suspended the writ of habeas corpus, spent money before Congress appropriated it, and imprisoned between 15,000 and 18,000 suspected Confederate sympathizers without trial. Lincoln also signed the Revenue Act of 1861 creating the first U.S. income tax and he also created a system of national banks through the national Banking Acts of 1863, 1864 and 1865 to help fund the war. Lincoln did not allow foreign investors to meddle in US banking. Lincoln said concerning the international bankers, "The money power preys upon the nation in times of peace and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country.

Passage courtesey McNaughton Art


In so much that Lincoln trampling of our own constitution, yes he belongs to the right of the portrait, but in regards to the protection of the Union from outward influences and money manipulators there is good argument for having him to the left of the Forgotten Man.

[Waitone]

I think it appropriate Lincoln be standing on the constitution along side our existing president.