Currently, we have 50 U.S States, and the District of Columbia, with the last state (Hawaii) being admitted on August 21, 1959, under President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R-PA). The 50 states give us 435 members of the U.S House of Representatives, and 100 members of the U.S Senate. The District of Columbia, a federal district -and the nations capital- has two "shadow" Senators, and one "shadow" Represenative. These members do not get to vote, and are not counted in the Congress. The same applies to our 14 territories, (I'd say 16, but two are disputed, so I'll say 14).
The "head of state" of these territories is U.S President Donald J. Trump (R-FL). These territories do not get to vote for President, yet the POTUS is their head of state. Guam conducts non-binding preference polls to see who would theoretically win Guam if it were to vote for President (they are also able to vote in Presidential primaries), and it overwhelmingly voted for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y) by a 71.62-24.17% margin (a difference of 47.45%). As for everyone else, they do not conduct preference polls at all. The District of Columbia does get to vote for President, and it gets no more electoral votes than the least popular state (Wyoming, which has three electoral votes).
The District of Columbia is a City and federal district, and the Constitution recognizes it that way. Under Article One, Section 8, Clause 17 of the U.S Constitution, it states:
"Clause 17. Congress shall have power * * * To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings."
An amendment to the COTUS (Constitution of the United States) would be required to change that, to allow the District of Columbia to become a state, but with useless, mindless, partisan Republicans opposed to doing so, getting 2/3 of Congress and 3/4 state legislatures to approve that Amendment is dead on arrival. Or is it? We'll get back to that later. For now, let's take a look at the 14 territories of the U.S:
- American Samoa
- Baker Island
- Howland Island
- Guam
- Jarvis Island
- Johnston Atoll
- Kingman Reef
- Midway Islands
- Navassa Island
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Palmyra Atoll
- Puerto Rico
- U.S. Virgin Islands
- Wake Island
Now focus on the five permanently inhabited ones:
Puerto Rico
U.S. Virgin Islands
Guam
Northern Mariana Islands
American Samoa
All of them have their own governments, similarly modeled after the U.S Government with the three branches: Executive, Judicial, and Legislative, thus matching the separation of powers. They have Governors, and some have Lieutenant Governors. They have systems that match ours pretty well. As long as their Constitutions match ours, they can become a state, provided that Congress approves of their statehood. As it stands, Organized territories are lands under federal sovereignty (but not part of any state) which were given a measure of self-governance by Congress through an organic act subject to the Congress's plenary powers under the territorial clause of the Constitution's Article Four, section 3.
So Congress can rein in their power, or loosen the leash. If these territories became their own Countries, then they would have sovereignty uninterrupted (unless the U.S imposes embargoes, or invades them, and you know damn well that the U.S has done so repeatedly, don't believe me? "In the 1950s, the United States shifted from an earlier tradition of direct military intervention to covert and proxy interventions in the cases of Guatemala (1954), Cuba (1961), Guyana (1961–64), Chile (1970–73), and Nicaragua (1981–90), as well as outright military invasions of the Dominican Republic (1965), Grenada (1983), and Panama (1989)"). The President of the United States is the head of state of all of the 14 territories, yet they don't get to vote for him. Their powers can be restricted, yet they cannot vote out members of the U.S Congress that vote to restrict their powers.
And if they can't vote out those who rule over them, something is not right. With no representation, just like the District of Columbia, but unlike P.R, D.C pays taxes. In United States constitutional law, plenary power is a power that has been granted to a body or person in absolute terms, with no review of or limitations upon the exercise of that power. Like the different states of the United States, Puerto Rico lacks "the full sovereignty of an independent nation", for example, the power to manage its "external relations with other nations", which is held by the U.S. federal government. The Supreme Court of the United States has indicated that once the U.S. Constitution has been extended to an area (by Congress or the courts), its coverage is irrevocable, to hold that the political branches may switch the Constitution on or off at will would lead to a regime in which they, not this Court, say "what the law is", and that's very unsettling, and Puerto Ricans can enlist in our military, yet they cannot vote for the commander in chief that might send them off into a war.
Now back to the partisanship. Republicans are upset with the idea of making Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico states, claiming that it will tip the U.S Senate to the Democrats, and that the U.S House will be stacked with more Democrats. With D.C, one extra Democrat will be sent to the U.S House, and two to the Senate, and with Puerto Rico, it would send four, and with two U.S Senators, it would give Democrats a 51-53 minority against Republicans, and the U.S House would be 237 -198-1 majority against the Republicans and Libertarian. Republicans are whining worried that they will lose their Senate majority if new states are added. Here's how we can address that.
Before slavery was abolished with the 13th Amendment to the COTUS, the Missouri Compromise was established, which allowed for one "slave state" to be admitted to the Union, at the same time a "free state" would be admitted. When Maine (a free state) was admitted to the Union on March 15, 1820, Missouri (a slave state) was admitted to the Union on August 10, 1821. If we were to add Puerto Rico or D.C as a state, we could add the Northern Mariana Islands as a compromise with Republicans,
since the Northern Mariana Islands has a Republican Governor, and an extremely Republican controlled legislature. Puerto Rico currently has a Republican Governor, and has had no problem electing both Democratic and Republican Governors, which could either make it a swing state or a blue state. Considering that D.C has never voted Republican, it would be a safe blue state, and with Guam, which has voted (in a non binding preference poll) for the candidate who won the Presidential election, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, but then it voted for Hillary Clinton, who won the popular vote, but lost the Electoral College to Donald Trump,other than 2016, it has been a bellwether state.
So with two blue states, a red state, and purple state, the U.S could introduce four new states, with Guam giving one Representative and two Senators, and with the Northern Mariana Islands adding two more Senators, and one more Representative. In total, with Guam, N.M.I, D.C, and P.R, this could stack the House of Representatives with 443 Representatives, and eight new Senators, meaning that a majority in the House would now be 222-221, and the Senate would be 55-53. If more U.S territories become states, they can further balance out the power in Congress, and if they become states, they have as much sovereignty as our current fifty states under the Tenth Amendment.
What Is Life Like In These Territories?
Well, terrible. These territories are politically and economically under developed. Territorial telecommunications and other infrastructure is generally inferior to that of the continental United States and Hawaii, and some territories' Internet speed was found to be slower than the least developed countries in Eastern Europe. Poverty rates are higher in the territories than in the states. And the plights these people endure is only made much worse when they have no representation in Congress, the Electoral College, and we have power over them, with them just being at our mercy. This is tyranny.
This is something we must ask ourselves: Why should we continue this? If we aren't going to let them join the union, then why not let them become their own nations? Of course, they could hold a non binding vote on the matter, and choose between statehood or becoming an independent nation, and 50.1% of the vote can be the required threshold for Congress to take up the matter. Puerto Rico last held a vote like that in 2017, where 97% of the votes were to become a state, but only 23% turned out to vote. The turnout should be at least 50.1%, but with a major political party boycotting the vote, that's what's dragging down turnout.
In the end, if Republicans actually care (they don't) about political balance, then they should push for Puerto Rico, Guam, and Northern Mariana Islands to become states, since pushing for D.C instead of P.R will be much, much harder to do, although pushing for D.C and P.R, N.M.I, and Guam, would be the right thing to do, to end the taxation without representation, that already occurs to them, on American soil. Chao.
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