The story of the American Empire

[Padfoot]

CGP Grey is awesome.  He has a lot of good videos about voting, politics, economics, etc.

Regarding the issue of US Imperialism:

The clear solution for DC is statehood.  Lots of countries have city-state capitals.  The only tricky part would be what to do about the 23rd amendment.  Even if Congress just shrinks the official federal district and admits the rest of the territory as a new state, we still have an amendment which grants presidential electors to the district.  Not sure what would become of them if no one is living in the district to vote.

Puerto Rico needs to stop pretending that it can have its cake and eat it too.  Statehood or independence people, no more of this fictional "enhanced commonwealth" B.S.

As for the other territories, I would say it makes the most sense for them to go with the CoFA option.  We really don't have any kind of Constitutional provisions that allow for true democratic integration of permanent territories so they will always be "second class" citizens.  If we were to amend the Constitution I think something along the following would be good (excuse my non-legalese):

Section 1. Should the total resident population of US territories not under the jurisdiction of a state government be less than one-third the population of the least populous state: these territories shall be considered as part of the state closest to their individual geographic locations solely for the purposes of participating in federal elections including the selection of electors of President and Vice President and the election of Senators and Representatives to Congress.

Section 2. Should the total resident population of non-state US territories be equal to or greater than one-third the population of the least populous state but less than two-thirds the population of the least populous state:

The territories shall collectively appoint a single elector of President and Vice President; it shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but it shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be an elector appointed by a State; and it shall meet in one of the non-state US territories and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.

The territories shall collectively appoint a single voting representative to the US House of Representatives.  This representative shall be equal in all ways to the representatives sent by the states except that the territorial representative shall be granted only one-half of a vote when voting on legislation as part of the full House.

Section 3. Should the total resident population of non-state US territories be equal to or greater than two-thirds the population of the least populous state:

The territories shall collectively appoint two electors of President and Vice President; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in one of the non-state US territories and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.

The territories shall collectively appoint a single voting representative to the US House of Representatives.  This representative shall be equal in all ways to the representatives sent by the states.

Section 4. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.