What Democrats fail to mention, while they were standing aghast at Donald Trump's proposals to annex Canada and Greenland, is that when Joe Biden first took office, he pushed hard to make Washington D.C. the 51st state. What was Biden's rationale? Politics, of course. The District of Columbia is a deep blue Federal District and Biden wanted to strengthen a voting block that is going to keep voting Democrat for the next few generations.
Shortly after Biden's proposal, we proposed fixing many American geographic errors:
Our missive was THE 60 STATE SOLUTION.
We are going to give a brief overview to move the conversation forward:
State 51: District of Columbia
State 52: Guam and Northern Mariana Islands
State 53: Indian Homeland in Oklahoma
State 54: Puerto Rico
State 55: West Texas
State 56: North Texas
State 57: Southern California
State 58: Northern California
State 59: New Amsterdam (Northern New York)
State 60: Superior (Northern Michigan)
Now most of the suggestions were breaking up states that were too big, or had resources devoured inequitably amongst citizens.
But let's review the two that would expand the American "Empire."
Guam and Northern Mariana Islands
Guam is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, but most Americans are familiar with Guam, but not so much the Mariana Island Chain itself.
Strategically positioned between China and Hawaii, Donald Trump could develop the Northern Mariana Islands as a strategic trading hub for all of Asia. All he'd have to do is propose the islands vote on statehood and by 2026, the chain could be the 51st state.
Why don't we do it? In 2019, Donald Trump called Guam a "strategic hub." But in 2023, when North Korea threatened to nuke Guam, Trump called Guam "not America."
Puerto Rico
We aren't going to focus on any old referendums. In 2020, the government of Puerto Rico asked one simple question of the voters: "Should Puerto Rico be admitted immediately into the Union as a State?" The voters of Puerto Rico voted to join the United States with a 52% majority.
Why hasn't statehood been granted? Because Puerto Rico has a lot of problems. Congress isn't keen on fixing our own problems in America, I speculate they are extra "not keen" on inheriting Puerto Rico's systemic problems.
But here's the important delineation. Greenland doesn't want to be a state. They want their independence from Denmark. Canada doesn't want to be a state. They are their own country and would allow their voters to vote on becoming the 51st state as soon as America voted on whether to become the 11th province. Now could America peel away the Yukon Territory at a later date? Very doubtful, but you never know.
Instead of expansion, we should develop Alaska instead of buying Greenland.
Instead of expansion, we should develop the smaller islands of the Hawaiin Chain instead of trying to "re-conquer" the Panama Canal.
What about Haiti? They are in a state of Anarchy. What if they voted to become a state?
What about Cuba? Their infrastructure has collapsed. What if they voted to become a state?
There are expansion opportunities for America, if we put a little work into it.
Donald Trump wants to inherit nice places.
Having made his money in real estate, you'd have thought that Trump had heard of the concept of "buying low and selling high." Places like Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands could be looked on as investments instead of burdens.
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