Last election, more Americans rejected voting for Hillary actually. US decidedly leans away from Hillary.
America Samoa, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico have a national guard too, but they actually have that tier of extra government required to someday become a state.
Washington DC us completely lacking in this. It needs to be able to have a fully fledged state militia (America Samoa can't pull this off, despite having some great troops).
Since this is a Trek Site, it be like having a requirement any planet joining and remaining a federation planet has to maintain 5 state of the art, frontline ships, and some asteroid who snuck in on bad argumenrs, decides to provide 5 Delta Flyers, saying each is a ship.
We don't expect territories, be they incorporated or unincorporated, to pull off a reasonable national guard. One capable of being deployed both internally in state, while elsewhere in another state (I've seen Nevada National Guard deployed to NTC at Fort Irwin for 9 months to train other units) while also deploying oversea- all the while maintaining aircraft, tanks, APCs. water treatment units, medical facilities, search and rescue teams, helicopters.... fully fledged bases.
My state of West Virginia maintains one of only two Airborne Infantry national guard units in the country, and they happen to be special forces.
You can look at Europe and see exceptionally strong & rich states like Luxembourg get creative in specialized niches, but it needs to be pointed out Luxembourg isn't a US state.... it wouldn't meet a lot of our expectations for being a state, but I would accept it as a state long before DC, because :
1) It funds itself- evidence it is mature and self capable, not a compete mooch. States need to be fairly independent financially before being given the ability to plan its own government expenditures. Luxembourg can do that, DC is a joke. Why? Cause Luxembourg exist for its own damn sake, isn't a artificial political entity like DC, or Berlin. If it didn't learn to keep it's shit together a long time ago, others would of moved in and killed them. It doesn't beg, it doesn't ask, it simply is.
2) People tried to conquer Luxembourg a lot in the past. Its is the most fortified city-state in history. Seriously, they have some impressive fortifications. They've never not taken their defense seriously, save wisely during WW2 (Hitler would of steamrolled any threat out of them). To this day, they remain fair military innovators, for a small size, they focus on realistic military technologies that will push their puny military into the frontlines of any EU/NATO war. That's qualitatively a lot more than I can say for many countries in Europe. DC would have to do much more than Luxembourg here. When I was in Airborne School, my first jumps was from North Dakota National Guard planes, C-130s.
North Dakota deploys its troops overseas, guards its troops. Alaska, Battle of Both land, where I was deployed, had most of the national guard and army deployed, still maintained a strong instate presence in troops to guard a incredibly large territory. It guarded the Russian and Arctic boarders (in places, Russia has massive forces deployed right off US communities/in the pacific ocean), as well as the pipeline. It contributes guards to Kodiak Island Missle command, Marine Arctic scouts (yep, those actually exist, was surprised too) and a airforce. It can host higher echelon commands too, which eat up personnel.
DC can't do that. Virgin Islands can't, America Samoa can't. Puerto Rico comes the closest, America Samoa next. DC dead last.... well, no, might beat the virgin islands and a few pacific possessions we still have.
Not deserving whatsoever, of the title of a state. If Prince Edwards Island, in Canada, joined the union as a state (never gonna happen, too damn small, can't believe Canada puts up with them) it has a better chance if providing that middle tier.
1) Prince Edwards has a economy.... based on potatoes.... but that's still a independent source of wealth. Idaho does that too. If the US government cut funding to reduce bloat, reducing the size of government to 1/5, and the 51st state, Prince Edwards Island cried "Noooooo!" the rest of the union would just tell them to be quiet and grow some stupid potatoes. They as a state are expected to be independently capable of producing wealth beyond merely servicing the federal government with restaurants, hotels, and liqour stores.
2) Prince Edwards Island can host a reasonable national guard, at least one base. True, a high school football team can conquer that island if it wanted to, but it can potentially host that capacity. DC can't, its already filled with stuff. If in a national emergency, president called Hus 51 state governors up for a mass meeting, to coordinate, the DC Governor wouldn't be on the phone, he be sitting next to the president..... cause it be a complete waste of space to have a separate governors office in DC, and seperare homeland security office for them. What can the governor do or say in regards to DC that the President can't already instantly know just looking out the window or asking the guy one room over who was just down the street in the CIA? Absolutely no point, completely pointless and redundant. However, makes sense to ask the governor of distant Prince Edwards Island what the situation is, what his needs are, can he supply troops or personnel here or there. DC would have to piggyback 95% off the regular military. No point asking them.
3) Its a joke of a puny city. It legally can't have buildings above 3 stories high. That's why the Washington Monument seems so big. Its why the areas outside DC lean so very heavily Democrat, its because white collar workers running the government bloat programs can't even find housing in the city. Has a massive homeless problem.... If the weather is below freezing, they are required by law to put people in hotels- they legally can't put them in auditoriums or gyms, they tried it, Judge said no. They literally ran out of space, and gotta figure out how to make more homeless hotels for wintertime, when the general trend has been government buildings are expanding in new locations in DC.
His the hell are you gonna build a economic, independent commonwealth out of a increasingly homeless population pinned in between 3 story buildings, the inability to find shelter in winter despite it being the law, and a upper-upper class population living in the mansions, moving in and out every administration?
You can't. Period.
I don't mind giving individuals voting rights for the state of Maryland or Virginia (they might) but no, under no circumstance are they remotely deserving of statehood. Luxembourg comes a hell of alot closer, and I would still say no to them.
DC is the biggest joke we have in America. It has two stripclubs, no nudity, side by side with a whore house between. I'm not joking. That's the local culture. Everything else is federal oriented. Not a whole bunch to build a actual economy off of. The statistics for economy in DC looks grand until you minus the federal governments impact, then suddenly Baltimore looks the superstar.
I would sooner give statehood to Greenland than DC. I wouldn't give it to the Faukland Islands if they tried to join the US cause a couple of Sheep Farms and a sandwich shop with special stamp sales isn't enough to convince me they can be ever become militarily self sufficient. They are a massive money drain.
Hong Kong is borderline. Like I said, population doesn't count for shit, its the ability of a state to be self sufficient.
It isn't quite Luxembourg in that it exists today by its own right to exist. It was created by the British, just like Beijing was forced to exist by the Ming (same for DC, or Berlin, if government stopped propping it up, it would die off).
But in Hong Kong's case, its a economic powerhouse. For how long? I don't know, no real reason Hong Kong as opposed to say, Dalian or Macau a century from now.... but its China's version of Alexandria, Egypt.
Is it remotely self sufficient in food? Nope. Neither is Hawaii, both can starve in a matter of days in a blockade. Hawaii can resist, excellent Navy, deep Pacific grid and US Navy.
How long could Hong Kong last on shipments alone? Would anyone ship to a peninsula off China blockaded by China, even if it coincudently part of the US? Unlikely.
So self sufficiency, dead. Its unrealistic. DC can't grow crap either, but if some powerful state blockaded the river, I'm 100% confident the US could get food in with ease. DC has that slight advantage over Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is already absurdly urbanized. It long ago stopped worrying about three story high buildings. It can expand into the water, and has in the past, so if the US wanted some large bases, they can point at some shallow water, offer joint development of development. DC can't. If DC tries to dam the river to build in it, DC floods. Maybe build over it and concrete it.
Can Hong Kong provide a excellent National Guard? Yes- Light Infantry enough to hold the city for days, and a excellent navy. Airforce? What's the point. That hurts them, cause they be our weak point for our western states, Alaska can fly to Guam, then Australia in under a day. Hong Kong craft would just get shot down upon takeoff, if Artillery doesn't take them out first.
Can Kong Kong self govern, that middle tier of government? More so than DC ever could. Beijing doesn't think so much, but Hong Kong doesn't appear incompetent either. A emergency call to Hong Kong from the president makes sense because the President isn't in Hong Kong. If he needs to know the deal in DC, he merely needs to look out the window.
I'm more willing to take a place like Hong Kong in someday in the future if they ever become a state. A hamlet like Monaco or Gibralter no, but both would deserve it more for a history of self governance and being distant. Neither can realistically defend itself, despite the proud military history of Monaco's French serving princes, or Gibralter's British naval history. UK doesn't mind having half assed joke territories around, surprised any stayed around after the collapse of the British Empire. In the US' case, we built our system with a lot more integrity. We very carefully crafted our system from experiencing several earlier moves to confederating parts of the North American continent in the colonial era, bad EU like experiences with the Articles of Confederation. We had a excellent grasp on the principles of Classical and Renaissance Statecraft, studied the English Civil war and Dutch Invasion/Glorious Revolution in imcredible detail- we did not stumble blindly nor with idiocy in developing our system, save in one area, slavery. Outside of that system, we built a fairly stable system. Why the US government is one of the oldest continuing governments in the world today, most other nations since 1776 have fallen multiple times. France has had 7 governments, soon 8. Germany exploded a few times, same for China. South America completely morphed.
We lasted cause we didn't design our politics off if short sighted pot smoke, liberal arguments. We carefully weighed everything and created a damn system that's resilient and worked. We don't give cities statehood. We didn't build a political system where a political machine in a few cities ran by some demogague tyrant could crush the rest of the country. We didn't create a patchwork of little pussyfied useless city states full of self aggrandizing, no nothing idiots.
Statehood is NOT a natural right. Its a duty and responsibility, not based on the concept of Auctoritas but rather Res Publica.
Https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auctoritas
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Res_publica
I don't mean the Renaissance concept of a republic, but the classical idea of a society being able to govern itself independently. The US had a delicate mixture, we aren't based off of independent Polis, or virtual democracy, but rather the autonomy, self governance, and mutual duty and reliability of each state to provide aid and relief, and competently recieve and use it efficiently.
In a great sense, we have that ethical topography discussed in Arius Didymus' Stoic Ethics (taken from Plato's Timeas). We can look at a work like Petronius' Satyricon (if you in DC, go to the Rose room of the Library of Congress, ask to look at one of Thomas Jefferson's copies, he owned four editions) and realize a society must he large and sufficiently diverse, holding multiple yet contradicting beliefs in order to be vibrant, open, and fair. That's what lies at the heart of tolerance and secularism, concepts we borrowed from the Dutch Republic.
Outside of the politicians and lobbyists moving in and out, DC is a one party monoculture. It lacks new ideas. It is mentally slothful and backwards. If it was brimming with new ideas, local elections would have different parties winning each year. They have nothing going for them. They don't have the rural vs city debates to balance their economy and laws, liberal Illinois does, California dies, New York does. DC lacks a check. Hence it is intellectually dead on the social level. You walk down the street, only people pushing ideas are for national concerns. You want a local issue, you gotta go to the homeless guy in La Fayette park selling the local homeless news paper. DC as far as local society goes is dead. Don't point to Soggy Bottom, that's purely national. Those people aren't DC natives. Your DC locals are flipping burgers. You can't build a state out of that sort of dependency and decay. You need both love and strife, in a expansive territory- one bigger than a mere city, to make a dynamic population deserving of statehood.
You gotta earn statehood. You gotta gave your act together for it. You can't just go Cross-eyed and say your so liberal, and really really want it, and everyone is bring unfair. No- what is unfair is forcing 50 states to accept a idiot city with no real independent capacity to do anything on its own, as a equal. That's deeply embarrassing. Once you come into the union as a state, you stay in the union. 500 years from now, still a damn state. 2,000 years, still a state. US is playing for long terms stakes, we have no intention like most other societies of collapsing into one idiot liberal revolution after another, or of being conquered. We fully intend to outlast everyone else, and have mostly done so as to date. We are not France, we continue on, because we are the damn motherfucking energizer bunny of nationstates. We can only do this by avoiding all the stupid shit. DC will never be a state, cause it isn't cut out to be one. Its a joke. Not worthy of consideration. If you want representation for taxation, move 10 miles over. I know your not from a family that came from DC prior to it becoming a capitol. We all had ancestors who knew what the deal was, and nobody is keeping you there.
