If the rest of the world joined the USA... what would change?

[Blue3]

Let's say every other country on Earth decided to voluntarily and permanently join the United States of America... and all their territory (and existing US territory) was organized into 200 new states in time for the 2016 elections... for a grand total of 250 states in the United States (so 500 Senators, and say the number of Represenatives in the House was expanded to 5000).

How would all of these new American citizens vote? How would the parties change? How would the U.S. government change? Which national policies would be different and how? What new issues would the government be focused on, and which ones would be forgotten? What would be some other general consequences?

I think it's an interesting thought experiment, will post more of my thoughts later. But I think there would be a lot more focus on healthcare and food/water and infrastructure and education... the issues of immigration and trade would definitely be obsolete... and it would be interesting to see how the parties changed and other policies changed and how the role of the military would change.

[Blue3]

So far, it seems we have...

1. Security issues and extending U.S. rule of law
(to protect against terrorists/separatists/revolutionaries, and enforce federal laws which Americans are used to onto new states that will probably be unfamiliar with them)

2. Economic issues and extending U.S. standards of living
(such as making sure everyone is being paid minimum wage, workplace safety, labor standards, environmental & consumer protection standards, entirely new/upgraded infrastructure)

3. Language issues and extending U.S. culture of social tolerance
(overcoming any communication problems, and the people getting used to our more permissive laws/culture, especially on race/gender/religion/class)



But we wouldn't have to worry about state-to-state conflicts anymore, and nobody could seriously say "it's not America's responsibility to look after them" anymore. Trade and immigration policies would be obsolete. The military would have to be transformed. But what would new majorities of voters want to change about the way U.S. government operated and what its responsibilities should and shouldn't be?

[Blue3]

There would be no way to effectively govern the world without an incredibly decentralized federalist system or something of the like.

Why?

[Blue3]

What if we were forced to stick with the Democrats and Republicans?

The platforms of both parties would change radically to accomodate the new electorate, such that they'd both be unrecognizable.

In what ways would they change?