💧 Hopes for a Better Massachusetts Flag

[Soon, our wretched flag may be replaced.]
In recent years, multiple states have worked on improving their flags. In good news, Minnesota completed the update to their flag last year. Sadly though, against all taste and reason, Maine’s gorgeous Lone Pine flag failed to be approved via a statewide referendum.

Progress comes in fits and starts though, and I’m pleased to report that my home state of Massachusetts is in the process of updating our wretched flag. This is the current terribleness:

Soon, it will hopefully be replaced with something superior, thanks to a process which should update our flag, our seal, and our motto.1 The state received hundreds of flag submissions, many of which were very bad, and not just the ones drawn by actual children.2

Still, there were plenty of good designs to be found. The commission has suggested three flags be considered, and while I prefer the first design, any of these would be just fine:

We’ll see how this process shakes out in the months ahead. For now, though, I want to call attention to this wonderfully subversive suggestion:

I tip my cap to the artist behind that delightful idea. We are kindred spirits.

Footnotes:

Our current motto is “Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem”, loosely translated from Latin as “By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty”. I’m not so sure now is the time to change it. It could perhaps be pared down to just “Sub libertate quietem”, for “Peace under liberty”. ↩︎

I imagine that full PDF will disappear some day soon, so I’ve archived it here. ↩︎