Flag of the Month: The 51-Star Flag of Puerto Rican Statehood
Guest post by Jason 330
“USA! USA! USA!”
I’m not a big “USA!” chant guy, but when this chant was raised at the DNC, I loved it. I loved how Harris ripped the flag away from the party of insurrection and poked them in the eye with the golden eagle. No. If fascism comes to America, the brown shirts will not be waving Old Glory. That’s ours, mutherfuckers!
So it was an easy choice to celebrate the return of real patriotism (not the shallow, fake GOP stuff) by making the flag of the United States of America our flag of the month. Huzzah! Just like unironic “USA!” and “freedom,” the Flag of the Month post is back.
The thing that makes the “stars and stripes” a great flag, and unique among world flags, is that it isn’t fixed, but dynamic. The strips and blue canton give it a firm base, but the stars have been changing since 1776. No other national flag reserves a space for updating the flag over time. Our flag is a living, breathing historical document.
So I wanted to make the American the flag of the month, but which America flag? Again, the answer came to me when watching the role call at the DNC convention. When Puerto Rico was called, the delegate roared “…and the next state of the United States casts its 60 vote … for Kamala Harris! Viva Kamala!”
I thought “Wow…making Puerto Rico a state would be great.” Most Puerto Ricans want it and regularly vote for it, and it would make all the right heads explode by adding two new senators. And, by the way, I looked it up and statehood for Puerto Rico would be easier than you’d expect.
Article IV section 3 simply states “New states may be admitted by the Congress into this union; but no new states shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress.”
“New states may be admitted by the Congress into this union …” Hey Democrats, just win simple majorities in both houses and do it. No fucking around. No Chris Coons crying about it being “partisan.” Fuck that shit. While the Fox News panels are melting down over this move, let’s go for universal health care and write Roe v. Wade into law. We need to attack on multiple fronts, Project 2025-style, only without the establishment of Gilead and the beheadings. OK, beheadings if someone is really asking for it.
I guess I’m far afield from my original topic. Here is what comes up when you search for “51 Star Flag & Puerto Rico”. 
Basically, there are a lot of ways to arrange 51 stars on a flag and I happen to like this one. The circular pattern recalls the original Betsy Ross flag. If Harris wins and Dems take both houses, the Republic will have experienced a new birth of freedom, so a new flag would be entirely fitting.
Also, again, all the right heads would explode. Finally, it’s very demure.
All for it and way past time, as noted with a majority in both houses just do it, and little Chris will just have to cry his eyes out.
Add a blacklight and perhaps some hallucinogens, and that flag would be mesmerizing.
As a guy who has spent extensive time on the island over a period of years, I support statehood but do NOT expect a D bonanza. The electorate leans right it is purple at best and a congressional delegation is very likely to be mixed.
Fair enough. Since the 1929 the Permanent Apportionment Act became law the house is capped at 435 to they’d be taking 4 from some other states.
There are enough monied interests in PR to keep the status quo, I think. The tax situation is a bit complicated, but it can effectively be a tax haven if you have the resources. The rich people invested there want to keep it that way.
And the fact that most residents don’t have to pay federal income tax is enough of a threat to scare many locals from supporting statehood.
Whether PR ends up a state or its own country, I don’t mind as long as PR residents are the ones making the decision (and obviously all the referendums seem to be worth less than the paper they’re printed on).
I am just continually furious about the colonial status quo.