Flag Quest is shaping up to be a controversial and maybe even weird book. Some vexillologists who have reviewed it were angered by my claim that states’ rights ranked alongside slavery as an important issue during the Civil War. (Or were they angry because I called Abraham Lincoln a racist?) Even worse, I suggested that the Confederate battle flag is, from a purely physical perspective, more attractive than most state flags. On the other hand, Southern rednecks hate me because I’m the biggest critic of Washington State’s one-dollar-bill flag, which depicts an aristocratic slave owner (George Washington).
I may have united liberal buffoons and right-wing racists when I tackled an even thornier topic—the almost supernatural “Nazi” swastika. Can you believe it’s legal to even discuss such a dark taboo in the United States? Maybe we need to do something about the First Amendment; too much free speech can be dangerous.
Between clueless legislators, private citizens who want to cling to crappy flags they claim their ancestors fought for, and vexillologists who can be surprisingly extremist themselves, there may be no hope. But that won’t stop some of us from campaigning for a roster of flags that aren’t a national embarrassment.
Note: Flag Quest is nearly finished. I wanted to wait until Utah’s new state flag is officially adopted before publishing it.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure what’s happening next. It looked like the flag was on the verge of becoming official until some last-minute efforts were made to scuttle it.
If it looks like a final verdict may be delayed for some time, then I will probably publish Flag Quest in March or April, 2023.
For updates on Utah’s state flag quest, see FlagRevolt.com.
