In 2017, I recommended that the U.S. Congressional Art Competition be renamed the “America Sucks Art Competition” or that the annual event be done away with altogether. Now I’m thinking we should opt exclusively for “Door Number 2.”
For those unfamiliar with the contest, the House of Representatives website explains:
Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district.
Winning artworks, which are selected by House members, are displayed in the U.S. Capitol.
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In 2016, one of the works chosen was by a black teenager from St. Louis and depicted police as having pigs’ heads shooting up a black neighborhood. In 2017, a painting of a burka-clad Statue of Liberty graced the walls of Congress. (You can imagine the reaction of House Democrats if the colossus had instead been portrayed as a nun.)
This year’s honorees include Dominick Cocozza, 17, of Virginia, whose painting — titled “Immigration” — shows two solemn-looking Hispanic children holding a sign reading “Bring Our Mom Back.”
A painting of two migrant children holding a sign that reads "Bring Our Mom Back" will hang in the US Capitol for the next year as one of the winners of the Congressional Art Competition for high school students https://t.co/9tseqZ3iOq
— CNN (@CNN) May 19, 2019
CNN quotes young Dominick as explaining, “I had seen lots of pictures of kids carrying signs and stuff. So I thought by doing this one, I could mix the message in with my artistic abilities and capture that moment.”
The problem with the competition, apart from the inescapable evidence it provides that our schools are spoon-feeding our children liberal orthodoxies masquerading as education, is that it evolves into a pissing contest between Democratic and Republican House members. The former are only too happy to have another outlet for broadcasting their hard-left views while coyly pretending that they are saluting young talent. As a result, the works become bones of contention between those who want them displayed and those who do not.
