Statehood for all U.S. territories that are inhabited and CFAS’s: Yay or Nay?

So a quip I made in the 1/6 fukkery thread, the thread on Rethugs trying to split Washington State in half, and a sprinkle of the Bali dyke fiasco kinda sent me down a weird rabbit hole concerning U.S. territories and their status. There are actually quite a few U.S. “territories” that are stuck in a weird colonial limbo. The ones which stuck out to me were/are:

Puerto Rico
U.S. Virgin Islands
Guam
North Mariana Islands
American Samoa

Of course credit to wiki (List of states and territories of the United States - Wikipedia) for the list but these particular places were previously inhabited by native populations and passed through to U.S. possession either through spoils of war or purchase.

Outside of racist views of the past about demographics and voting tendencies I don’t really see why these places aren’t states by now?

From a right leaning perspective, it could provide new opportunities for development by adding new “tropical” type environments beyond Miami/South Florida. If Americans could move to these places like any other state it would bring an extra boost to a housing market that’s increasingly tapped out in other traditionally desirable housing markets. Would also provide much more fortified positions in regions of interest (PR-Latin America, V.I. - Anglophone Caribbean, Pacific Islands - Oceania, Australia, East Asia) which in the case of military would help deter the growing influence of China in the East or govts within the Caribbean/L.Am that lean towards American adversaries.

From a left leaning perspective, the territories would get the full benefits of citizenship under the law including federal standards on issues like race and discrimination, voting rights, etc. It would also provide another Avenue to longer term dominance after the republicans did every cut throat thing in the books to maintain power. Also, making these territories a part of America would play well with the multicultural platform presented for America. Adding those territories as states would be another investment into diversity.

To me, it just seems like an either or thing when it comes to this question, if you won’t give them statehood then cut them loose but if they’re important strategic possessions or territories that would be far too vulnerable to be independent after centuries of colonial rule then why not just do the right thing and give them statehood? I’m sure there are many things I haven’t considered or brought up so I’ll leave that to you all in HL.

What’s your opinion on it?

Edit: I decided to expand the question to include Free Association states (Compact of Free Association - Wikipedia) which were part of the old Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands which was created by the UN and administered by the US Navy and later the Dept. of Interior roughly from the end of WWII until the mid 90s. These islands include:

Republic of Marshall Islands
Federated States of Micronesia
Palau

All are currently independent, but given this Free Association relationship and the fact that many of the commitments charged to the U.S. by the UN weren’t kept and have dragged them behind the developmental curve would it make more sense to just combine them with the other Pacific territories into one entity?

 

I prefer to call them protectorates

 

Potato, potaado.....

 

If they want to be states then they should be states. Let them vote on it. That's where I stand. I think the Marshall Islands deserve actual representation seeing as though we nuked the shyt out of them

 

Facts, didn’t we literally annihilate one of their islands during nuke testing? Them and Guam went through a lot of bullshyt during and after WWII (Japanese invasion, Army race riots, nuclear testing, etc) they definitely deserve statehood imo. Plus it strategically makes sense given how close they are to the Asian market.

That shyt has to feel weird to not be sovereign but you not a part of America. Local politics only but a whole ass country that won’t let you in controls your overall fate. As much as we get riled up over voting rights it seems kinda crazy we ignore this shyt so much.

 

DC/PR yes.


them other ones a little light on population

 

I actually looked into moving there

 

Why should population count stop em? Whose to say their populations wouldn’t increase if they were normal states that you could move to and still be allowed to vote like Hawaii and Alaska?

I see, what did you find?

 

It's hard as fukk to get to

Utilities grim. Heavily reliant on fishing. Almost no jobs whatsoever. Very little amenities and the property yet and still is not cheap.

Honestly it's a wonder to me how any goods get there at all.

But if I'm trying to vanish from society I'll go there with a bundle of cash, probably get extorted and live like Tom Hanks in castaway

 

Statehood for DC and the US Virgin Islands

 

Fukk it. I say let them all be states

 

to be clear, i recognize the call that the populous has for representation, but unless we abolish the senate, i ain't calling for an island with 50k population to have 2 senators breh.

for a couple reasons:

1. this is just my own personal reasons, i've never lived in a city with less than 100k people, to be granting two statehoods to islands with 50k people... that just doesn't compute with my brain.

2. going off what you said, if we just think the population will increase like Hawaii or Alaska, who do you think that will be? can you drop all you got and just move to Guam? i doubt it, but maybe you can, but overall that's just going to support rich mfs going in and colonizing the state. Hawaii is fighting that shyt rn, Alaska has already been bought.

i'd recommend looking up how the libertarians tried to take over New Hampshire's state government, i swear it would be a lot easier to take over one of these islands for rich people, shyt they already trying to take over PR now, but at least it has 3 million people.

in the end i think they deserve an electoral vote and a congressman, but i'm not down for an island with the population of 50k to have as many senators of california - and even then we saw how easily bloomberg bought the primary on samoa(?)

so unless we're completely changing things, especially the way our legislature operates, i'm not really down for statehood for guam/vi/samoa/mariana

 

I figured as much. There’s hardly much info out there at all. I dunno why, but I get the feeling that a lot of that also has to do with the fact that there isn’t much reason to find new or innovative ways to develop more infrastructure since it’s not a state or a place for civilians more than it is for military.

It definitely strikes me as a place that would be great to get away from it all. Could be a retirement haven, a place for people to separate from mainland madness.

Very interesting points you bring up breh. I went to college in a small town so I’m used to that 30K and under shyt. It actually is interesting to me how that would look on a tropical island. I guess for me, my main issue is that these people are in limbo. If they could get participation like any other part of America it would solve the problem. Whether or not Statehood is the only way to do that is another question. In terms of who would move, America has a pioneering spirit by nature, even the groups that were often victimized by it. So I think you’d actually get a decent amount of people moving to these far flung places as long as the jobs and infrastructure were put in place.

It makes me then wonder if there should be a special “island” designation for places that are much smaller in size and population? Like PR can be a state given its pop/size but the others are “islands” with a vote? That’s a little similar to what I think of DC actually. You don’t NEED statehood to fix the inequities of DC. It just need a way for district residents to have their federal vote counted which can be done through Maryland. Perhaps these smaller islands can be legislatively connected to larger islands for their vote? Like PR and VI comprise a bloc and the Pacific islands including Hawaii comprise a bloc? I dunno, just brainstorming solutions because the Senate point is a good one. It’s already insane that Wyoming with 500k got the same Senators as Cali with 30+ mil.

But I think the gentrification aspect is inevitable honestly. Everyone can’t live in Miami, LA, Vegas, or these other warmer places. Sooner or later rich ass developers gon try to make it happen so better that it happen for more left leaning reasons than right leaning.

 

Interested in what other Ameribrehs think: @DIO Brando @Pressure @Henry Orbit @mastermind @Rhakim @FAH1223 @OnlyFrans
@acri1 @88m3 @Mephistopheles @wire28
Couldn’t think of enough names but definitely chime in even if your name ain’t on the list...

Also edited the poll slightly to add a forth option kinda like what I just brainstormed with the “island” designation.