That's probably why I liked this flag of the Workers' Republic of Nebraska by Vizio:
Although you don't see many "workers' republic" flags that are not majority red, I still think the flag looks good with just a red star set in a sun (which I assume is rising). The yellow probably would stand for the bountiful harvest of the states and the blue would be the sky because I doubt this Nebraska would have access to the sea. Admittedly the dimensions seem a bit off, but I really do like this flag for the greater alternate history it seems to represent.
Honorable mention goes to "Reichskriegsflagge for the Australian Capital Territory" by LorisUmbrella. If you want more fun with flags (yes I just made a The Big Bang Theory reference) then I would check out this article where Western Sydney University examines Australians relationship with their flag.
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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a Sidewise Awards for Alternate History judge. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the day when travel between parallel universes becomes a reality. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Learn how you can support his alternate history projects on Patreon.
While I have no clue as to what your attempt to make Back in the USSA plausible entails (and I enjoyed the book as well, its warts notwithstanding), a USSA fan fiction set in the modern, post-Marxist America, using investigators (or journalists) who are trying to set the historical record straight, separating facts from propaganda.
ReplyDeleteTo use one example, the book mentions the Abe statue at the Lincoln Memorial crying tears of ice, in 1912 (1913?), yet the memorial didn't exist yet. Would it be stretching plausibility to imagine that Party propagandists might have retroactively placed the memorial back in 1912-13, after it was complete, revising history for dramatic reasons? As the Soviets engaged in historical revisionism--and airbrushed/eliminated those fallen out of favor from the history books--it's within the realm of possibility that many of Byrne and Newman's historical gaffes could be explained away in an identical manner.
Those doing the investigation could be alt-versions of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, aided by a shadowy Deep Throat-like character, who warns them of the dangers of angering powerful, rabidly nationalistic types in high places who don't look kindly upon their nation's history being challenged or darkened--shades of very similar nationalists in Putin's Russia. (Or apologists for Japan's imperial past. Or similar figures in Turkey, as regards Armenia.)
For those who don't mind following Byrne and Newman's practice of using pop culture figures in their fiction (and yes, I know your feelings on the matter, but this isn't an attempt to influence you, just my idle thoughts), the investigators can be alt-versions of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, both employed by the former Federal Bureau of Ideology (Mulder being motivated by the regime having disappeared his sister during his childhood), who get close to learning dark lies in the historical record, but are thwarted by through the machinations of a cryptic, shadowy, cigarette-smoking antagonist/nationalist.
As for the Nebraska flag above: Yes, it's a beautiful piece of work, but I wouldn't mind finding out what sort of timeline the artist for this flag had in mind. And your explanations for the color scheme sounds as plausible as anything else.