faux Statue of Liberty stamp

Posted on: Fri, 04/15/2011 - 10:42 By: Tom Swiss

Sometimes real-life ironies make a better comment on a subject than any artist could hope to make. Such is the case with the new postage stamp that was planned to feature the Statue of Liberty.

Now, despite the fact that in all my trips to NYC I've never visited her, I'm a fan of the iconic Lady. As a Pagan I appreciate her as a modern rendering of a Roman goddess, as a descendant of immigrants I like her role as national greeter (even if my ancestors didn't come in through Ellis Island), as a fan of international cooperation I like that she was a gift from France, a nation with which we share deep historical ties, and as a fan of crowdsourcing I like that funds for her construction were raised in small amounts from ordinary people. Lady Liberty is the real deal.

Thus, it is all too appropriate in today's fake America, that it's not really her appearing on the new stamp. Instead it's an ersatz Liberty built for a Vegas casino. The Postal Service selected the image from a stock photo provider, and ended up picking a photo of the Statue of Liberty replica at the New York-New York casino.