It seems there is a possibility that American flag products will need to be recalled. Sellers of the patriotic symbol may have to collect their products not for defective material or dangerous chemicals weaved into the seams of Old Glory, but to add one more white star to its surface.

After about 40 years of being the land of 50 states, America might become the country of 51 due to the recent proposals by some legislators on splitting Florida into two separate states, North Florida and South Florida.

According to the official press release, the proposal states that the state of South Florida would consist of the four largest counties Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe.

"We have problems," said Margate Mayor Pam Donovan to NBC. "We're big and urbanized. When our money goes up to other portions of the state when we can use it here to help us, help our children, help our housing crisis, help everything else and we don't get it, we have to do something."

The separation of the southern region of Florida would be primarily due to the economic distribution of the state, with most of the money sustaining the state coming from the south and having to support the northern counties.



“This has been going on for too long. We are here trying to give good service to our residents at the cheapest possible costs and we keep getting hammered by the State Legislatures,” said Jack Brady, the city mayor of North Lauderdale. “We believe South Florida has many different issues than those in North and Central Florida and yet we all get put into the same frying pan together … local officials are the closest to the people and we have to do what is right for our citizens.”

While the idea of an entirely new state brings in new opportunities and an entirely different agenda to follow, the proposal has stirred up conflicting opinions.

However according to Dr. Roberto Vichot, social studies teacher, it would take much more for the people of South Florida to separate from the union.

In order for a territory to become a state, a series of petitions from the state must be made to Congress itself, expressing its need for secession. It would basically take much more than a number of meetings between the legislatures in Tallahassee to decide the separation since circumstances like the economy and geography must be taken into consideration.

Washington D.C., for example, has been fighting for statehood for about 25 years but has been turned down because of various arguments like the fact that since the District is heavily democratic, it would create an imbalance in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

“I don’t think it would happen but it would be interesting because of the differences between the northern and southern parts of the state,” said Mr. Peter Caroddo, social studies department chair.

“A great deal of the tax revenue from the state is generated from the southern part of the state yet the legislatures from the north continue to cut us off from state funding for things like education and public services and spreading the money that we earn in the south through out the rest of the state. We need to be properly funded, [since] we also have a greater need than the north.”