Here we will go over the bare bones politics of accepting new
States into the United States of America. So let's get started.
Old model: I say old model, but it is not necessarily
old. In this case the actual difference from the modern model is the
reasoning. In this case it is slavery. As each new State entered
the United States pre-civil war you will notice that they always entered in
twos. One State would be pro-slavery and the other anti-slavery. It
was designed to keep the balance between the opposing factions in congress so
as to maintain the status quo of the time period. In fact, at one point
they believed Texas was going to break itself up into a number of smaller
States, so the northern territory was held back from Statehood so that they may
be broken up into equal numbers of States to continue the balance. This
balancing act still continues today, but not over slavery.
Current model: Today, the States entering the
United States have to do with political parties. When Alaska and Hawaii
joined they did so around the same time. The reason is because the State
of Alaska typically votes Republican and Hawaii typically votes Democrat.
Thus why Puerto Rico and other States have not joined or formed in the
United States. There is no counterbalance for Puerto Rico's politics in the
U.S. yet as Puerto Rico apparently would vote primarily for Democrats if they
became a U.S. State.
Conclusion: So this is the politics of
Statehood. It is a balancing act between two opposing factions seeking
control of the government, but agreeing to maintain balance with respect to
political power in the House of Representatives and the Senate. I
personally find it very disheartening, but this is the politics we are forced
to live with. Hope you enjoyed my barebones explanation on the politics
of Statehood.
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