Today I came across an article on Forward.com explaining that the photo of Donald Trump on the cover of Time Magazine’s person of the year issue was a “political work of subversive art.”

I don’t think Forward.com really understands what subversive means.

Merriam-Webster defines subversive as “a systematic attempt to overthrow or undermine a government or political system by persons working secretly from within.”

As the article explains, the Person of the Year cover photo may well serve to visually undermine the authority of Donald Trump. It may subtly make a statement about his fitness for office.  But it does nothing to overthrow or undermine the system itself.

In fact, Time sits right smack in the middle of what Tom Woods calls the “3×5 index card of acceptable opinion.” The magazine’s editors and readers wholeheartedly embrace the same system of centralized, authoritarian government as Trump and his supporters. They just don’t like this particular authoritarian,  nor his vision for the mythical “common good.”

This is hardly subversive.

Staking out a position somewhere in the vast ten-inch space between the political philosophy of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump does not make you a radical. It means you embrace conventional ideas about politics and the role of government. When Time starts printing covers undermining the legitimacy of the state and its foundation of violence, force and coercion, then we can start talking about subversive art.