Seeing Past Statehood
9th June 2021
Arizona entered the union as the 48th state on Valentine’s Day, 1912, which completed the American jigsaw puzzle that spans the continent. Almost 50 years later, in 1959, Congress admitted Alaska and Hawaii as the final two states. And as when the Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation from the Isle of Patmos, the canon was closed. The union was complete.
Now Democrats are champing at the bit to replay the 1850s and have a fight over admitting two more states to the union. Democrats wrap themselves in the lofty-sounding rhetoric of liberalism when talking about statehood for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, but they are motivated by the same destructive political calculus of the antebellum era: admit the territories as states that will give you control of the senate so that you can dominate your political enemies. It’s a high-stakes gambit that didn’t end well last time.
The proper thing to do with D.C. is to give it back to Maryland, as the Virginia portion was back in the day. This would answer all of the legitimate grievances of D.C. residents. But that’s not what Democrats want. (I think the capital ought to be moved back to Philadelphia.)
The proper thing to do with Puerto Rico is independence, whether they want it or not. They have never been American in any meaningful sense of the word. (Or maybe give them to Mexico. Or even Cuba.)
One of the most frustrating aspects of the Democrat push to create new states is that it’s backwards looking. They have no ideas for how to make America better—they just want to play the greatest hit from a bygone era, to get the last squeeze out of the lemon. That’s evidence of political and cultural decay.
Yup. If you want new real states, cut California, Oregon, and Washington in half north-to-south. Or New York horizontally right above Duchess County.
June 9th, 2021 at 15:00
Amen to your comments.