Census Designated Place Flag

Municipalities are the fundamental components of the nation.  In a way they are the cells of the United States of America.  Everyone knows that there are 50 states and few extra territories of the US.  Likewise most know that Counties are the next level down, cept' for Louisiana which has Parishes.  All the states have flags and nearly all Counties have flags.  Further down, many municipalities have flags too, but it gets really messy on what constitutes a municipality.  A municipality can be a city, town, borough, township, reservation, and many more.  And not all municipalities are equal.

Bottom line is that municipalities are you lowest form of government.  It would be a challenge to get a meeting with the governor of the state, but meeting up with you 'lowest' ranking political officer at the municipality is a relatively easy thing to do, unless you live in a big city...then you may have a chance, at meeting your 'ward leader' or 'neighborhood-block leader.'  Most people are often blissfully unaware of their local leaders at the municipal level, let alone the county and state levels. Schools always teach the federal system over and over.  Local social studies info is like top secret knowledge or classified.  Imagine County and Municipal Government Classes?  Or even just spending one month on it?  Note that most schools get much of their funding from the municipality.  Dosen't make sense that the Municipality have say in the learning process?

All municipalities are required to have a seal, and many have flags.  However, some people live in 'small towns' that have no political office.  They are known as unincorporated communities and are basically a fiefdom to another municipality.  Sometimes the town is larger and more famous than its official municipality, as is the case with King of Prussia in Pennsylvania.  King of Prussia has no official government for itself.  King of Prussia in Montgomery County is

a part of the municipality of Upper Merion.  Upper Merion also commands Gulph Mills, Swedesburg, Swedeland, and Wayne.  And going back to the cell analogy, King of Prussia and Gulph Mills are the would be organelles within the cell of Upper Merion municipality.

So how many cells make up Pennsylvania?  Right now there are 2,560 municipalities, thus Pennsylvania has 2,560 cells.  Note, that like cells, municipalities come, go, dissolve, or combine.  So with in the next 10
years, the number of cellular municipalities is likely to change.  And like cells, some municipalities are healthier than others, via crime, income, comfort, pollution, and education level.  Just for comparison, at the moment Texas is composed of 1,212 cellular municipalities. 

But for places with names and no namesake official nucleus, we have the Census Designated Place flag.  The flag is a place holder flag for towns without independent municipal governments of their own namesake.  To clarify, a place like King of Prussia has a municipal government, but the name of municipality is Upper Merion and includes other places.   In a way King of Prussia is in the within the 'sub-county' 'area' of Upper Merion.  Perhaps in a few years King of Prussia will break away and separate from Upper Merion, taking all the local tax money earned?  Becoming it's own municipality.

The basic formula for a Census Designated Place has a field of 13 stripes, alternating blue and white; white stripes are dominant.  The abundance of blue indicates the spirit of a blueprint, since if an unincorporated community gains municipal independence the flag will certainly change.  In the canton is a seal with the upper portion reading 'US Census Designated Place.'  This indicates that the Federal Government recognizes this place as a virtual-potential municipality, a community with its own unique spirit. 

There are several Census Designated Places that are larger than your average city.   To the left if the generic blueprint for these communities that have no mayor or government of their very own, yet have their own organic and independent local govenment distinct from the attached municipality of a different name.