Introduction and Overview

The Expansionist Party of the United States ("XP") is a small, international organization founded over the telephone February 19, 1977 by two gay men in two different boros of New York City. It works, sometimes in conjunction with other statehood organizations, to enlarge the United States geographically. Alas, in that we are a voluntary organization with no independent income, the Party gets only such time as its Chairman, L. Craig Schoonmaker, and other members can devote after their regular occupations. Lack of wealth also prevents the Party from running candidates for elective office at this time, save by write-in campaign. The bulk of the Party's work is in educating the public, by means of letters to the editor, the Internet, occasional radio and TV appearances, speeches at colleges, etc., and in urging government officials to adopt XP policies.

XP is radical centrist, which means that it goes to the root ("radix" in Latin) of problems and disregards where an idea comes from, be it Left or Right.

XP is radical pragmatist. If an idea works, we will back it. If it doesn't, we will condemn it. Good motives don't necessarily make for good policy. If something is tried but fails, people must have the courage to admit that failure and move on. Fixing things is what matters. If what we have tried heretofore does not work, we must try something else. If that doesn't work, then we must try something else, and something else, and something else still if even that doesn't work. What matters is results, not dogma.

But XP is deeply moral. Politics is not just the art of the possible but also the pursuit of the right and honorable. Power is for doing good.

Both wealth and power bring responsibility. There is a French expression known to most educated people in the United States: "Noblesse oblige", which means that a life of privilege entails obligations. XP would add, "Richesse oblige aussi", that is, wealth also entails obligations, and the United States is the richest country in the history of the world. "Pouvoir oblige aussi": power entails obligations as well, and the United States is by far the most powerful country that has ever existed, this planet's sole superpower. Conscientious people aware of the obligations implicit in living a privileged, prosperous, and comfortable life in a rich and powerful country must act responsibly toward the other people, animals, and even endangered plants of what a PBS television show for kids some years back called this "Big Blue Marble":  planet Earth. If a program does not meet strict moral standards, both positive and negative, XP will shun it.

The United States is a great and large country, but a small part of the world. Population outside the U.S. is growing much faster than inside, and that bodes ill for our civilization and hopes for humanity. Some 30% of the people of this planet live at the edge of starvation; one bad harvest, and they're over the edge. People in rich countries can ignore the terrible conditions of people in poor countries because of national borders, which put moral blinders on governments and media, and induce ordinary citizens to think that what happens outside their country is none of their business, no matter how horrendous it might be.  But the people on one side of a border or ocean aren't a different species from the people on the other.  We are all much the same, and must care about each other.  If we don't, who will?

When we see a child lying at the edge of death from starvation, too weak even to shoo away the flies at his eyes, or when a news report shows a youth whose leg has been blown off by a mortar blast in one of the many wars that occur all around the planet each year, we must instinctively understand that "There but for fortune go I" — and understand as well that we must find ways to change the institutions that produce vast human misery and environmental devastation.

Private charity isn't good enough.  It's a band-aid on gangrene. No, what we need to do is erase needless borders, pool resources, and move resources quickly from where they are in excess to where they are desperately needed, without regard to the imaginary lines that are borders.

If the only way to get the right to intervene in a disaster is by joining countries together, then that is what we must do.  And if the only way to gather resources enough to do the work of the world is by joining together rich countries first, then that too we must do.  But it's not all bleak, heavy responsibility. Creating an enormous Union to do the good and necessary things no one is doing now is a great adventure, and the resulting Union will make all its citizens enormously proud.

Great countries call for greatness in their people.  Americans must rise to the challenge posed by a world of division, grotesque poverty, and chaotic violence.  We are the world's only superpower, and we must use our power, not sit on it.  We must welcome into the Union both people who can help us with our enormous responsibilities, and people who need our help.  We will all get a bigger country we can be even prouder of than we are of the 50-state United States of today or any of the other countries we admit to our Union.

Overpopulation is this planet's No. 1 problem, but it is not the only problem. Intolerance of difference, be it racial, religious, ethnic, or sexual, is a huge issue all over the world. The United States has learned to accept wide variation among people and their ideas, due to its highly diverse population, and XP believes the United States has hit upon the magic formula for intercommunal peace: an equal pairing of (1) local autonomy and (2) shared power in national governance — that is, federalism. Further, the U.S. forbids the Government to take sides in religious controversies, a hugely important matter, and encourages people to speak their minds, albeit respectfully of other people's sensibilities, in order that we might all thrash out our differences in peace.  We can build upon U.S. success by adding States to the Union in sensible, gradual steps that enlarge the community of citizens and increase the power of the United States to do everything that needs doing, all around the world.

We can start by ending the scandal of colonialism at the nexus of the 20th and 21st Centuries.  The United States, which started the entire modern process of decolonization by throwing off the British yoke in 1776, itself has colonies!  Shocking but true.  We must end our own colonialism as our first priority, by (a) granting statehood, (b) merging small colonies into larger new or existing states, or (c) granting independence.

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PR, VI.  XP proposes that our two Caribbean colonies, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, be merged into a single 51st State.  There is a sizable statehood movement in Puerto Rico, but it has refused to demand the one thing that will bring Puerto Rico into the Union quickly:  that Congress unilaterally terminate PR's neither/nor "Commonwealth" status (neither full equality with the 50 States as a State of the Union nor equality among the nations of the world as an independent country) and force Puerto Ricans to choose between the only two permanent statuses available to them: statehood or independence —  fish or cut bait!  Puerto Rico has been paralyzed by indecision, because "Commonwealth" (a gross misnomer, because that status alone keeps Puerto Rico poor) enables voters to put off a final decision, and given a choice between making a choice or avoiding one, Puerto Ricans by a slim majority prefer avoidance.  XP urges Congress to push Puerto Rico off its fence.  It will then come down firmly on the side of statehood — and the sooner the better.  For full exposition of all sides in Puerto Rico's status debate, see http://www.puertorico51.org/english/index2.html.  For a partial discussion of XP's own views, go to "Letters from the Chairman" and check the index there for "Puerto Rico"

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GU, AS, MP.  The United States has three colonies in the Pacific Ocean:  Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, all of which are very small. Even put together, these three colonies would not be large enough to warrant admission as a State of the Union, for it would be unfair for their 250,000 people to have as much representation in the Senate as California's 32 million.  The only way they could become fully participating citizens of the United States, then, is for their three tiny territories to be merged into the State of Hawaii — the "Big Hawaii" proposal made over 30 years ago by prominent Hawaiians.  Even with such accessions, Hawaii would remain small enough that the people of these even smaller territories could make their voice heard within Hawaii's institutions.  In the alternative — that is, if these territories refuse to be merged into Hawaii — all three must be forced into independence.  The United States must have NO colonies. For more on this topic, see "Equality Across the Pacific".

Once we have resolved, to statehood or independence, the status of our colonies, we should look to bring into the Union areas that are compatible in language (English Canada, Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and the English-speaking areas of the Caribbean); then culture, trade, and history (Quebec, Mexico, Haiti and other non-English-speaking areas of the Caribbean, the Philippines, Latin America, Europe, and Japan); and then areas less like us (the rest of the planet). Rich areas would subsidize poor —  and, happily, make money by supplying electrification, roads, schools, hospitals, housing, and other infrastructure; textbooks, medicines; and the panoply of other goods and services the people of poor areas need!  Poor areas need what rich areas make, but they can't afford to buy it as long as they remain apart.  Join them together and the one hand washes the other, money flows from the right hand to the left — and back again.

From Many to One

We have done this all before.

It is not generally appreciated today, but the United States began as thirteen separate countries that cooperated in a wartime alliance to gain their separate independences from the British Empire. The "United States" was the equivalent of the "United Nations" in World War II, that is, a sloganic term for numerous separate allies.

Indeed, some historians accept Vermont as a fourteenth original state, the State of New Connecticut (tho more popularly known even then as Vermont), independent 14 years (1777-1791).  The State of New York, which claimed Vermont, did not recognize any such state. Vermont threatened, however, that if New York attempted to take control of its territory, Vermont might appeal to London for reannexation to the British Empire and welcome British forces onto its territory, which would have created a wedge between New York and the New England states!  Happily, Vermont's Green Mountain Boys, originally an anti-New York militia(!), fought with distinction on the patriot side; Vermonters settled their controversy with New York for $30,000 after the Revolutionary War was successfully concluded; and New Connecticut became officially the fourteenth state, as Vermont, in 1791.

The thirteen separate countries that signed the Declaration of Independence called themselves "States", to break from their earlier designation, "colonies".  In like fashion, a number of fully independent countries today call themselves "States":  e.g., the "State of Israel", "State of Bahrain", and "State of Kuwait".  Altho all three of those "States" are in the same geographic region, no one would make the mistake of thinking them part of a single larger country.  In the same way, the original Thirteen States were very protective of their separate, sovereign rights, and only grudgingly formed a federal union.  They were later joined in that Union by Vermont and two other separate countries, the Republic of Texas, independent almost 10 years, and the former Kingdom of Hawaii, independent for hundreds of years.  (The California Republic, tho emblazoned on the flag of the State of California, was a revolt against Mexican rule, rather than an established country.  It lasted perhaps 26 days and did not wield governmental power.)

Only six decades after "the United States" won independence (1861-65), did the Union fight a Civil War that established that "the United States" was plural only in form, but singular in political construction.

Still, the States of the Union have very considerable powers, in, among other areas, criminal law, education, and taxation.  Indeed, the basic unit of the United States is the state, not the federation, as is made plain by Article X of the Bill of Rights:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."

It is vital that the various States guard zealously against Federal overreaching. A healthy federalism means a healthy and tranquil United States. So it is important that the States assert themselves, and not allow centralizers to destroy federalism and replace it with an all-powerful and arrogant unitary state, for such a unitary state would be a grave danger to the liberties of all free people.

The thirteen separate countries that fought their way out of the British Empire created a form of federalism that enabled them to work together on things of common interest but pursue their own interests within their own territory, without too much interference from a national center. They created a balance of powers, first between center and regions, then among the separate branches of the Federal Government.

Forswearing extreme egalitarianism of either the State or the popular kind — the U.S. Government does not comprise absolutely equal States (presently 50 in number), nor does it apportion all power on the basis of population — the Framers of the U.S. Constitution opted for a balanced approach. There are two chambers to the national legislature. One (the House of Representatives) is apportioned by population. But in the other (the Senate), every state has the same vote. No proposed legislation can become law unless both chambers agree. Ordinarily, the President must also assent, and the President (along with his Vice President, a backup in case the President dies, resigns, or is temporarily incapacitated) is the only official elected by the whole country. But Congress can pass legislation over any President's veto, so is first among the equals the Constitution attempted to create from the three divisions of the Federal Government, legislative (Congress), executive (President), and judicial (Supreme Court).

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has got it into its head that it is not only the highest court but also the highest branch of government — not even 'first among equals', but supreme in all matters of government, entitled to dictate to the President and Congress and, yes, even to the people, who, it feels, have no alternative but to obey diktats from unelected judges.  That must change.  (See Rein in the Supreme Court, part of the presentation "Problems in American Democracy —  and some solutions.)

We believe that the form of federalism that resulted from the deliberations in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 is infinitely extensible. It permits areas of huge population or small population to participate in a single federal union without either overwhelming or being overwhelmed. As things happen to work in the real world, it never happens that the 37 "new" states (that is, those of the 50 present States that were not among the original Thirteen) conspire to deprive the "old" states of their rights or wealth. Rather, members of Congress (both chambers) split on votes by ideology rather than geography. That is healthy.

Huge states in population cannot prevail in the Senate, where representation is apportioned equally by State, so must seek allies thru the give-and-take of the political process (often called "horse trading"). That is, no act of legislation can pass unless both big states and small states agree that it is in their own citizens' interest. To persuade each other of the virtues of a given proposal, members of Congress must argue principle and strike deals: "If you vote for my bill, I'll vote for yours."

With such a system, the United States could absorb the entire remainder of planet Earth without risking the wealth and lifestyle of present-day Americans. All the world would, in a unified Congress, split on matters of principle. New members would not conspire among themselves to victimize their fellow citizens of the now-minority old-American population. Leftist-inclined representatives would align with their fellow leftists, rightists with rightists, across geographical boundaries. And to the extent geography did play a role in controlling people's votes, Uttar Pradesh would balance Szechwan; France would balance Germany; South Africa would balance the Congo. And we would all find a way to work together for everybody's common interest.

Domestically, the United States has many problems. Fortunately, we also have huge resources — intellectual, natural, economic — with which to address those problems.  Every annexation will likely entail some problems, too, but add even more resources, human as well as economic, with which to solve not just the problems of new accessions but all the other problems of the Nation — and the world.

Thus it is that we of the Expansionist Party face the future with confidence in federalism and in the basic institutions of the United States as the surest way to work toward world union under law. Only world government can solve the appalling problems of war, starvation, poverty, environmental devastation, etc., that ravage this planet. But no world government can be trusted that does not look very much like that set out in the United States Constitution. If any successful world government would have to be based on balanced institutions like those established and governed by the U.S. Constitution, why not simply extend that Union worldwide? With such enlargement would come not just legal forms but also the hugely successful culture and economy that rest on bases not all of which anyone understands, but which would surely extend to others the benefits they have brought us.

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