By Tom De Seno
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Hello Governor! I noticed your latest bout of uncontrollable virtue signaling (you should see someone about that). You have removed the state flag of Mississippi from New Jersey’s display of all 50 49 state flags at Liberty State Park. You are predictably triggered because Mississippi’s flag bears the Second Confederate Navy Jack in the upper flagstaff canton.
So, you oppose secession of the southern states? Virtue signal received, Governor. I suspect we all knew that without rekindling the civil war or vacating amnesty given to southern soldiers.
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Is this temper-tantrum your way of hiding Democrat guilt caused by New Jersey being one of three states that didn’t vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864? Are you and the New Jersey Democrat Party ever going to apologize for that? Your party literally voted for slavery in that election.
I’m off track. Back to the flags.
All this flag talk got me thinking about our own New Jersey flag. Take a look at it. See the lovely Goddess on the left? On her staff she is holding a red hat (insert Indian pounding a drum here). A red hat. She is holding a RED HAT!!! I assure you, that red hat was the MAGA hat of the American Revolution.
That red hat is referred to as a “Liberty Cap” and is a common symbol of the American and French Revolutions.
Who associated with the red Liberty Cap during the revolution? People who called themselves “Patriots.” They opposed big government. They opposed high taxes. They opposed the British government taking their guns. They sound like today’s MAGA supporters.
Who opposed the red Liberty Cap during the revolution? People who wanted a King. People who wanted high taxes. People who wanted to take away guns. That sounds like you, Governor Murphy.
Since we are looking at our New Jersey flag, which simply bears the state seal (that’s lazy), it sure could use some updating.
Let’s break it down.
There are 3 plows on the shield in a nod to agriculture and I suppose redundancy. Above that is a medieval helmet which stands for state’s rights (Hark! Isn’t that part of what the Confederates were fighting for?). Above that we have our state animal, represented by the disembodied horse’s head from The Godfather.
The two women are Roman Goddesses (triggering church/state separatists). On the left is Libertas, holding the 18th Century MAGA hat. On the right is Ceres, a woman after my own heart holding a cornucopia of groceries. My complaint about these two is they were lazily drawn to look exactly the same. They look like two sides of a Rorschach test.
Perhaps it’s time to form of a commission of well-paid political hacks to spend two years debating proposals for updating New Jersey ‘s flag.
But wait, on second thought, New Jersey has the highest taxes in America, the highest car insurance in America and a broken pension system. Not to mention an enormous overdue bill for brine.
Maybe worrying about what’s on New Jersey’s flag should be way down at the bottom of things that concern you, Governor Murphy. That would mean Mississippi’s flag isn’t your concern at all. Get back to work.
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Tommy De Seno is an attorney and commentator residing in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
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