There’s something else besides LL Bean and lobsters that Maine is noted for. OK, well should be noted for: the toothpick. I read somewhere that 95% of all wooden toothpicks are made in Maine. So they need a flag with a tree made of toothpicks!
Or a gigantic open mouth with a gigantic toothpick. If it has to have a star, it could be like a gleam on the shiny clean teeth.
I can understand saying that flags with certain design elements are preferred, but saying that anything else is forbidden seems… a bit much.
The purpose of flags is martial. Outside of the battlefield, they are little more than windowdressing. Martial flags generally follow the rules of heraldry/vexillology. Other flags are not really meaningful, so the practical rules do not really apply to them.
I disagree. Flags also serve political, social, fraternal, decorative and signaling purposes, among others. Non-martial flags can be just as meaningful as martial ones, and practical rules do apply, for reasons of aesthetics, clarity, cost and public acceptance/support.
I’ll suggest @eschereal is right about why they were originally invented a thousand plus years ago.
Meanwhile @Elendil_s_Heir is spot-on about what they’re for in the modern era.
The purpose that flags originally served on the battlefield is now served much more by radio signals and cryptographic techniques. The modern purpose for flags is much removed from that.
It looks like they picked a winner in Maine back in August but have to wait for the voters to decide in November: https://mainemorningstar.com/briefs/here-is-a-look-at-the-new-state-flag-design-mainers-will-vote-on-this-november/
And I will definitely buy one for my flag collection if they adopt it.
According to my son who was in Minneapolis for a while, whatever the flag is it should have a wild turkey (bird not bottle) covering it. They’re taking over the flag just like they’re taking over the state.
Apparently the law said to use the old flag which is exactly what they did.
So how many new flags have been adopted recently? Mississippi, Utah, Minnesota, and Maine are the four I can think of. Are there any others in the works?
I wish my county would adopt a flag. Right now, all they have is a white flag with the county letterhead logo on it. And it’s not even official.
In the country’s current feverish mood, be careful about wishing for lots of new flags. You just might get them.
Now Illinois’ turn?
Uh, the only candidate I think not buttugly is the one that most closely resembles the current one (which I have never had a problem with.). A butterfly? Seriously? And that one with what I figured out after some effort was Lincoln’s profile in blue and the state’s western border in red?
Almost as impressive as the latest license plate redesign fiasco (which has NOT improved with familiarity.) Way to break something that didn’t need fixing!
None of them really get it right. The butterfly and stars is is actually the strongest one in my opinion but that’s not saying much. Some of the other options have good ideas like the one big star surrounded by 20 littles stars. Just do that in gold on a plain blue field and call it a day.
I liked the “gearwheel and corn kernels”. If course, being a sci-fi nerd, I first thought it looked like the Galactic Empire logo from the Star Wars movies.
I like the thinking that went into it, but the colors were not so good.
The Maine flag referendum failed:
Brian
My general analysis, as well. I don’t like inclusion of literal elements like the outline of the state or the letter “I” in them. The Lincoln one with the outline of the state is particularly weird as that white negative space looks like it represents something, but apparently is just negative space.
The ones with the circular design in the middle look pleasant enough and are not ugly, but they’re also not really distinctive and they’re too single-toned
The one with the sun, prairie, sky with three stars, is probably my favorite of the bunch, but the exact choice of colors doesn’t quite do it for me.
The one with the state surrounded by the stars is probably my least favorite. I find it both ugly and too literal.
Well, that’s an ugly and lazy one, too, so I don’t blame the voters for rejecting the referendum
Meaning 55% of Maine voters are idiots.
As for the Illinois proposals, is there something significant to the Illini about blue & white as the state colors? It seems like a theme. The ones with the state outline are bad and the I one is even worse. Did they not learn to keep it simple?
Maine? Better than the one they have now and historical meaning to the state.