Destiny Made Manifest in a Pattern of Stars

Chris Ortiz y Prentice — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 02:50:23 +0000

This could be the new flag of the United States of America. Fifty-one stars. In November 2012, Puerto Rico voted in a referendum to become the fifty-first state of the USA. The measure now awaits approval from the U.S. Congress. Whether the representatives of the fifty states will invite in Puerto Rico, currently a U.S. territory, depends, of course, on a number of factors: culture, taxes, how it would change the political dynamics of the country, among others. But there's another big deciding influence at play here, though it is less tangible, and that is how a fifty-first state would change the appearance of the U.S. flag. Why would that matter? Because the arrangement of the stars on the flag has everything to do with belief in Manifest Destiny.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

U.S. destiny made manifest in fifty stars, arranged neatly in offset rows. Fifty: not just a round number but somehow, to our simian brains, it seems a solid one. The design of the current flag reflects, I would argue, a sense of arrival. Half a hundred states. But the U.S. flag only got its fiftieth star in 1960.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The symmetry of the stars has not always appeared so manifest. Fewer stars make for a more contingent, not to say temporary, look. And odd numbers added another challenge.

U.S. Flag from 1819-1820: 21 stars (After Illinois before Alabama and Maine)

U.S. Flag from 1845-46: 27 Stars (After Florida before Texas)

U.S. Flag from 1851-1858: 31 Stars (After California before Minnesota)

U.S. Flag from 1867-1877: 37 Stars (After Nebraska before Colorado)

U.S. Flag from 1959-1960: 49 Stars (After Alaska before Hawaii)

Images from Wikimedia Commons

Thirty-one stars was a particularly awkward phase. But there is something wrong about that observation. As if the U.S. were a teenager in the 1850s. There is frankly too much suffering in the story of how the flag got its fifty stars to permit such a flippant trope. As if westward expansion, the imperialist policies of nineteenth-century USA, were motivated, even in part, by the desire for a more symmetrical seeming flag!

Might there soon be a fifty-first star? Will the democracy give up the notion of U.S. exceptionalism and go with a more contingent looking flag? Or will it seek to maintain the mythos of symmetry?

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Alternate Pattern for 51 stars

What sort of "united" would a country of fifty-one states wish to project? Circled wagons or side-by-side, independent but joined in rank and file? The importance of the psychological effect of the arrangement of the stars on the flag should not be underestimated. The circular pattern which heads up this post was, according to Wikipedia, proposed by the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico, which is the party that advocates for full statehood. What new image of the USA would a circular pattern instill in the hearts and minds of citizens? Who makes up such a USA? What are its policies? With what attitude do the states regard one another? What destiny does it manifest? What destiny does the country wish to be made manifest?

Staging Election Night

Jay Voss — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:00:00 +0000

(Image credit: Chicago Tribune)

Did anybody notice how many American flags graced the stage of Mitt Romney’s rally last week on Election Night? Why were they grouped in threes? What was the Romney campaign trying to suggest by dressing the stage in such a way? That Mitt Romney was patriotic and put America before all things? That not only is Mitt Romney patriotic, but he can afford many American flags? That like all-things American, our flags should come in large proportions? Is there anything in Mormon theology that preferences the number three? If three is somehow significant, why give us four sets of three? Maybe we got four sets of three because this way Romney could be positioned in the middle of flags during his speech? Are the three sets of gaps between the tri-flags on Mitt Romney’s Election Night stage significant? If Mitt Romney’s was supposed to stand between one of the gaps, and Paul Ryan was supposed to stand in another, does anybody know who was supposed to stand in the third gap? Does anybody know where one can buy 12 regulation-size American flags? Never mind the flags, does anybody know where one can get the flag poles that have the eagles on top?

(Image credit: Chicago Tribune)

The Obama campaign’s setup made a bit more sense. The only thing I was initially wondering about was the fact that there were high school gym bleachers behind the podium where Obama was to address the nation. And I noticed this during the Carl Rove-recall-Ohio debacle, at which point MSNBC (the station I was watching) was talking about Rove’s confusion and showing a broad shot of the Obama supporters celebrating in the Chicago convention center. From this angle, the riser at the back did look a bit out of place. Of course, when Obama came out and started speaking, from the TV angle it looked just as if he had a diverse group of people behind him, which is certainly what his campaign must have been going for. I don’t watch too many campaign speeches, or at least I like to tell myself that I don’t watch too many campaign speeches, but I’ve got to think that having bleachers in back is almost a standard of the genre. Whenever clips of such events are shown on The Daily Show or wherever else I see them, it makes complete sense that folks are standing behind a given candidate.

I wonder if the difference between the Romney and Obama campaigns here speaks to a larger point, and something that ultimately has to do with how things turned out. The Obama team was clearly aware of who their audience was (folks watching around the country on TVs), and of how their Election Night stage would come across to those tuning in. The Romney campaign apparently didn’t think of such things. Or if they did, they must have come to the conclusion that their fans wanted a certain cynical and gaudy excessiveness.

viz. - American Flag

Destiny Made Manifest in a Pattern of Stars

Staging Election Night