The Repugs love to claim Lincoln as their own. I mean, they LOVE it, they use it to brush aside accusations of racism and to instil pride in their followers. “The party of Lincoln” they loudly proclaim. And yet, they are also the party of the confederate flag.

What they actually are, in fact, is the party of cognitive dissonance.

I just spit out my coffee!! This would freak out the right wingers in the burbs!! Love it!!

I love it

...like Obama drinking a beer in the background.

The one from Minnesota looks like it's from a child's play mat.

I've thought it looked like an especially uninspired corporate logo, but your description of it as a child's play mat seems more apt:



The old flag was pretty, but the emblem at the center contained a tableau that was confusing at best and racist at worst. It seemed as though it might be a commemoration of the Natives being replaced on their land by white settlers:


All they had to do was replace that emblem with something simpler that seemed to better represent Minnesota. Perhaps a loon on a lake under the North Star. But instead we got that awful redesign.

I hope Illinois fares better.

I prefer when they have a state seal - that's maybe just personal taste, I do like some of the pomp and solemnity of government, and the Minnesota flag seems dumbed down. But I also understand the objections to that particular logo. It seems as if there should be a middle ground.

This one has my vote.

But as a state flag? Not so much.

I agree that the new MN flag is pretty bland, but on the whole,, I tend to prefer relatively simple geometric designs for flags better than ones with a lot of small complicated elements (like most state seals). Some kinds of images just look better flying on a flagpole, imo.

The current Illinois flag is one of those that are too "busy" for my taste, so I'm happy to hear that there are plans to change it. I hope we can come up with something more interesting than MN did, but I like the idea of changing it.

Some of my favorites:

Alaska
Arizona
Colorado
Mississippi
New Mexico
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Wyoming

All are relatively simple and easily recognizable but not boring.

Some that are attractive, even beautiful, but not great images for flags, imo, include:

Delaware
Idaho
Illinois
Kansas
New York
Virgina
+ too many others to list here