Flags are an essential part of a country. They act as a banner to symbolize the land and the people as a whole and allow citizens to have something to rally up against and appreciate their country.

That being said, state flags are just as important. They serve the same fundamental purpose. Yet state flags go under much little consideration, at least less than country flags do. What happens is that you end up with a flag like Florida's: An uncreative, unoriginal design that incorporates nothing but a red cross with a complicated and hard-to-draw seal in the middle. That's a big thumbs down for Florida: Not only is the seal hard to see from far away, but it's hard to draw too, meaning that although you can recognize that flag, you may not appreciate it like the American flag. The cross on the flag is also too similar to Alabama's flag and the Confederate flag.

In fact, Florida ranked 34th out of the 50 U.S. state flags, 5 inhabited territories of the U.S., 13 Canadian province flags, and the flags of Micronesia the Marshall Islands, and Canadian region of Labrador in this 2001 NAVA survey. It received an overall score of 5.17/10. The Mississippi flag, which has the Confederate flag in the upper left-hand corner, was ranked 22nd. Obviously, there is something wrong with our flag. 

 A flag should incorporate the 5 rules of flag design:

1. Keep it simple so a child can draw it from memory
2. Use meaningful symbolism
3. Use 2-3 basic colors
4. No text or seals
5. Be distinctive, or be related.

The flag or Florida doesn't follow any of these rules.

1. No one can draw a seal from memory
2. The symbolism is very buried in the flag. There is a lot in the state seal, but that's a seal that no one can recognize when waving in the wind far away.
3. The flag uses way too many colors, some of which are not very basic.
4. The state flag contains a big seal in the middle. Seals are meant to be seen on paper but are unnecessary on flags because you cant recognize them from far away or when waving on a flagpole.
5. You could argue the flag is distinctive, but not in the fact that it contains a seal like 27 state flags or that it contains an St. Andrews cross like the Confederacy or Alabama.

Inspired by the New Zealand Flag Referendum, I decided that the citizens of the state of Florida should have the option of proposing and voting for a new state flag. I outline a possible prosses below.

1. Proposal: Have the public submit a flag design to their county commission, who will then narrow the flags down to 1.
2. Narrowing down: Have congress appoint a committee with 15-30 members for the sole purpose of narrowing down the 67 flags to 4 or 5. 
3. Voting, Round 1: Have the citizens vote for a flag out of the ones chosen by the flag committee by a preferential voting system, where people rank the flags best to worst.
4. Voting, Round 2: Have the citizens vote for either the new chosen flag or the old flag.

The state of Florida needs a new flag. A flag that people can care for, or rally under, or to appreciate and think "Yeah, this is Florida". Not a flag you simply wave on a pole and think "Oh, it's Florida."

For more information, see 

" The Design of U.S. State Flags " by Linopa Films

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAXE4YiocpI