For those of you just joining us, in State of the Union Part III Thirdgarage proposed the adoption of a symbolic Fifty-First State and a Fifty-One Star Flag.
The flag shown above may seem a little different to the eye, because it is. Mr. Robert Heft, who died on December 12, 2009, designed this Fifty-One Star Flag. He did so around the same time that he designed our official Fifty-Star Flag as a high school project. It has been held in trust ever since.
We first made this proposal in October 2001, while the country was beginning to heal its 9/11 wounds. Our efforts to find Mr. Heft at that time were unsuccessful. So, he never endorsed the idea. On the other hand, he hadn't not endorsed it either. What does a Fifty-First State and Star symbolize to us?
1. Star 51 is about our aspirations as a nation and our place in the world; it is meant to focus us on who and what we could be; it represents our true potential, not a finite territory. It is unbounded.
2. It is not Red, Blue, or Green and is neither Left nor Right. It is not owned by a Corporation or anybody else.
3. It points the way forward out of a series of calamities; its adoption is meant with deepest respect to our current flag and Union and the memory of many who fought or died to protect it and our freedom.
4. It will shine its light on our true and dangerous enemies, so that we see them clearly; we have enough real enemies without inventing others. Most importantly, it reminds us not to be our own worst enemy.
5. Our 51st State is honest and true "like ice, like fire" as one sage has said. It has no state capitol, therefore it has no under-the-radar legislators or their relatives and "friends" in imaginary state jobs as part of a bloated budget.
6. Star 51 will not appear on any Talk Show or on Reality TV. There will be no book with a huge advance, and Wall St. can't IPO it, split it, bundle it, trade it, short it, mortgage it or bankrupt it.
7. People everywhere: US citizens and others , taxpayers and cheats, church-goers or not: child, teen, adult, and aged can look upon it and rekindle their dreams (then pay their fair share of taxes!).
8. Real prosperity will be made again in garages and free minds by girls and boys, women and men who are tinkerers, maybe just a bit odd. Star 51's killer app is to do the unexpected and to do it well. It will remind us that Wash. D.C. and Wall St. can't manufacture prosperity; they only make bets and skim their shares.
9. The new Star's light and magnetism more firmly unite the other stars; it acts as a symbol of our creativity and innovation as a nation.
10. A high school boy in Ohio conceived and designed the flag decades ago: a beautiful, selfless act. He had another use in mind at the time, but I'd like to think that he would have enjoyed our idea.
We're walking around in the dark as a nation, bumping into one thing, then another. Why not turn on a light where we can all see it?
Note: If you would like to know more about Robert Heft and his flags, you can read Jim Sielicki's UPI story about him at: http://www.usflag.org/flagdesigner.html
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