Betsy Ross

It has become very fashionable among academics to diminish the achievements of certain historic figures. At the rate things are going, it won’t be long until the ivory tower tower types deny Christoper Columbus ever sailed to America in the first place. They’d also have you believe Thomas Edison was some sort of drooling baboon who was barely capable of picking his nose, let alone inventing incandescent light. And somehow H. P. Lovecraft’s creation of an entire fictional genre is supposed to be irrelevant in light of the fact that he, a weird recluse born in the 19th century, was a racist.

Heck, even Pluto got demoted.

Betsy Ross is another one of the much maligned greats. And you know what? We don’t even care to hear the evidence against the Ross family’s claims that their ancestor designed the American flag. The humble upholsterer, who was born on a farm in New Jersey, did in fact design the flag named after her. So sayeth Libertas Bella.

Betsy Ross has always been hailed as a role model among patriotic women. Indeed, she has come to symbolize all the myriad contributions which women have made to this great nation over the decades. How else does one encapsulate the work of people like Louisa May Alcott, Susan B. Anthony, Emily Dickinson and Amelia Earhart in any symbol other than Ross’s iconic ring of stars?

Without women we never would have watched Strangers with Candy starring Amy Sedaris on Comedy Central. That is not an America we’d dare dream about.

But the Betsy Ross flag isn’t just for the ladies. It is for any proud American who cherishes their history and honors their country’s earliest symbols. We guarantee you, if you’re caught wearing a pair of Betsy Ross flag socks in public, you’re going to get respect and admiration from the kind of people whose opinions actually matter.