One of America’s most talented antiwar artists and political satirists passed away last week. Tom Blanton did one of the best daily roundups of government oppression and outrages stories on the Internet.  His Project for a New American Revolution was an inspiration for me and thousands of other folks over the years.  Tom was also one of the best and funniest headline writers I knew. He was principled, courageous, and talented as the day is long.  He was 68 years old and a lifetime resident of Richmond, Virginia.

His Flickr page showcases his political art and other smackdowns of contemporary culture from the last 15 years.  His artwork is shareable under a C.C. 4.0 license.  When I emailed him in 2023 about using one of his masterpieces, he wrote back: “Please feel free to use anything I have done for whatever purpose.”

Tom was one of the most consistently antiwar libertarians I knew. (I knew a lot of such consistent folks before the 9/11 attacks but that’s a different story.) Tom mocked the Iran War even before Trump’s victory proclamations reached the double digits. Here’s an April 17 post on his Flickr page:

Tom loathed foreign entanglements as much as George Washington did in his Farewell Adress. Barely six weeks before his death, Tom posted this subtle reminder of how the U.S. government has strayed from the Founders’ intentions:

Tom consistently exposed the Dark Side of warmongering that the media & political elite ignore. In 2011, Tom recommended a new way to celebrate Memorial Day:

It used to be that Memorial Day was to honor dead soldiers. In recent years, we are asked to also honor veterans (who already have a day) and active duty members of the armed services. This may be an indication that the politicians feel there aren’t enough dead soldiers… I think Memorial Day should simply be renamed........

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