So why are Laborites voting for the Stars and Bars?

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Truly shameful that the South - after all this time - is still engaging in wanton succession fantasies and racist behaviors. Tack more or less summed up the "best of bad choices" scenarios presented for this "flag"; had the government of the South been truly open to the opinions of all its residents, then it would have had both a retention option and a NOTA option. Nevertheless, The People were forced to pick between four racist and segregationist flag options.

To the OP - who asks "why are Laborites voting for the Stars and Bars?" - I ask: why didn't Federalists and/or whatever that other protectorate party is called offer anything besides racist tropes to vote on in the first place?

Accusing the Federalists or ACP, as being supportive of forcing the south to vote for "racist tropes" is offensive. You don't always get the best of options, but these were the options that the flag committee in the Chamber of Delegates, I believe. Decided upon, and if you have a problem with it then, next time they come up for election vote them out. The South elected these people and the south will deal with the consequences.

I don't live in the South, so I don't have an option to "vote them out". However, as the only elected official designated to represent all 250+ Atlasians, I will speak out about the rigged nature of this competition and the inherently dirty nature of the people who presided over it. A Federalist/ACP legislature pushed for a referendum and adopted it, a Federalist Governor presided over the committee that would select options, all 4 options adopted were designed by a Federalist, and a majority-Federalist/ACP electorate (consisting of next to nobody) chose said designs to be on the ballot.

If it's offensive, then it's only because it's the truth. If the ruling class of this region had actually wanted the aggregate of voices to be heard on such a matter, then they could have mobilized the masses to participate (though I admit submitting designs is a bit more complex than saying "Endorsed!" in a thread). Nevertheless, this was designed to be rammed through with as little feedback and participation as possible.

You've also still failed to address my primary point: what exactly justified changing the flag in the first place? If this was such a needed change, then why not make the case? And in the absence of that, why weren't the options for NOTA and/or retention included on the ballot? Any party or movement not dead-set on ingraining racist tropes into the fabric of the region would have made sure to leave these options on the ballot for voters to consider, yet they're conspicuously missing! I wonder why...

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Bipartisan solutions are a beautiful thing.

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Bipartisan solutions are a beautiful thing.

At the end of the day, the best choices were made. Lincoln voted down tyrannical gun control policies, and the South decided on a beautiful flag.

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You'd think someone would be able to come up with a flag with no confederate symbolism at all, but apparently not.

There were plenty of opportunities for someone to submit a flag design. If people are too lazy to pay attention and too lazy to create their own when the South was accepting submissions, they have no room to complain.