Lucas: Cracker Barrel redesign fiasco a lesson for Mass.

For Massachusetts it is a Cracker Barrel moment Does the state swap its historic seal and flag for a bland replacement and succumb to progressive pressure or does it stick to its historic roots Cracker Barrel tried it and it did not work Their original folksy logo featured farmer Uncle Herschel but the re-design went for sleek modern and Herschel-less Backlash soared sales tanked Still that is the question at hand as a special panel loftily called the Massachusetts Seal Flag and Motto Advisory Commission last week came up with several proposed milquetoast designs for a new state flag and seal along with a new state motto The commission was created in to come up with a new state seal following the national outrage over the killing of George Floyd in That was when rioters trashed and toppled Confederate statues and other symbols deemed racist and discriminatory The hysteria led to progressives demanding that the Massachusetts racist state seal be replaced The seal is composed of a Native American holding a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other Above him is an arm holding a sword Draped around the image is the Latin motto that translates into the stirring By the sword we seek peace but peace under liberty The seal has been used on all state documents and on the state flag that flies over the State House and other state buildings for years The commission would replace the motto with Multiple voices One Commonwealth which is not exactly designed to stir young men to take up arms against the British again If that doesn t get a patriot s blood boiling the commission recommended other mottos like We rejoice in the population good which sounds like a slogan for welfare and the heart-pumping We honor all life guided by the First Light that might be posted above the entrance of a nursing home These pithy mottos are accompanied by three state seal recommendations that look as though they had been composed during kindergarten just before nap time You must understand that the commission has been going after this change in one form or another for four years and at a cost of a couple of hundred thousand dollars It solicited submissions from the masses and after studying them disclosed the nine options it disclosed last week three for the seal three for the flag and three for the motto The commission will now hold a series of inhabitants hearings before selecting a final design for a new seal new flag and new motto The recommendations would then go to the governor who would file regulation to make the change happen One outside proposal would be to let things stand and leave well enough alone But given her wokeness Gov Maura Healey will promotion the changes no matter the history involved Largest part politicians Democrat Republicans liberals moderates and conservatives fold if they are subjected to enough pressure from activists and progressives Recall Republican Gov Charlie Baker during the madness following the killing of Floyd Things were so bad and so out of control that Baker succumbed to pressure and removed the only Confederate Civil War memorial in Massachusetts It was a granite memorial on George s Island in Boston Harbor marking the deaths of young Confederate farm boys who died while imprisoned at Fort Warren Hardly anyone knew the memorial even existed let alone visited Now it s gone Another albeit small piece of history erased Now the activists and progressives would erase the seal Massachusetts should learn from Cracker Barrel If it ain t broke don t fix it Veteran political reporter Peter Lucas can be reached at peter lucas bostonherald com The Cracker Barrel Old Country Store logo AP Photo Rogelio V Solis File