The Fifty-First State

Election Day Eve: In New Jersey, President O has been unintentionally stumping for the Republican guvernatorial candidate; nursing homes are frantically readying voter vans to deliver aroused citizens who still remember being Republicans to vote against the Dem candidate. Upstate, a Republican congressional candidate, forced out by the rising the Rush/Newt Republican Right, has endorsed her former Democratic opponent. And here at home, in the state's smallest city, the current Dem Mayor is feeling a deep Republican venom not seen in these parts since women asked to play golf on the weekends!

A Bold Proposal: In September 2001, we proposed adding a fifty-first star to our national flag, a star that would represent our highest aspirations as a nation and demonstrate to our twisted, narrow-minded and determined enemies, at home and abroad, that we would hold firm in our beliefs. It seems like this would be a good time to revive the proposal in the form of a Fifty-First State. Purists please note that Mr. Robert Heft designed the new flag, when he designed our current flag. Also, please note that the new state is a spiritual/aspirational one, not territorial, with the following advantages:

• No new state capitol. No Soviet -style buildings rising in agricultural land, far from population centers and voters' eyes.
• Hence, no additional upper/lower Houses, no staff payroll padding with relatives, no awarding of lucrative contracts to House colleagues, no innovative tax schemes that exempt representatives from payment, and no free extensive healthcare for state employees.
• No new governor. Enough said.
• No new State educational "curriculum." No state tests designed to guarantee improved scores for all grades. No failure to encourage intensive science and math study in favor of fluffy "civics" classes. No selection of literature based on political content vs. artistic merit.
• No additional central gathering point for fourth-rate lawyers with time and money on their hands.
•  No banking or insurance regulation. Oh, sorry, even real states don't have this.
• Etc. & etc.

Seriously folks, it's time for us to have a visible symbol of what we hope to become, a symbol of all the things that still draw people from Africa, Asia, Central & South America, Mexico and Europe to our shores. Funny thing, but these people do not come here driven to earn the median income, have their children get C's in mediocre schools, or to learn to hate prosperous people; they want to be prosperous people. Have you ever met anyone driven to emigrate to China? Russia? India? France? Well, okay, some of us would love to have a place in France, but you get our point, Fellow Pilgrims, I'm sure. People come here to reach their highest aspirations, not average ones. Let's adopt that extra star as a symbol of our newfound energy, wisdom and cohesion that will continue pointing the way.

You can view the fifty-one star flag here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_51_Star_possible_Flag.svg       

and read about Robert Heft here:
http://www.usflag.org/flagdesigner.html