We need a constitutional amendment to correct a historic injustice in the United States. It might read as follows:

1. Every territory now governed by the United States shall either be a state or a part of an existing state, or should be allowed to become an independent nation, or a part of an existing nation.

2. If there is a territory owned by the United States which has no inhabitants, that territory shall be incorporated into a nearby state, as mandated by the House of Representatives and the Senate, so that every territory of the United States is part of a state.

3. Upon passage of this amendment, a vote shall be taken at the earliest possible opportunity in every inhabited territory to allow residents to choose, depending on their situation, which of the four options listed above that they would prefer. The results of this vote shall be binding, and shall be implemented at the earliest possible opportunity.

4. The residents of the District of Columbia shall be able to vote in such an election to determine whether the residents wish to become a separate state or part of an existing state.

5. If these territories choose statehood, they shall be immediatedly added as states, with full rights to representation in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and shall have the right to vote for President and send electors to the Electoral College to choose a President.

6. Congress shall implement these provisions through appropriate legislation if deemed necessary.

There can be no principled objections to this proposed amendment. These people are mostly citizens or at least residents of territories governed by the United States, yet they have absolutely no voting representatives in Congress (their non-voting representatives don’t count). The major territories that I speak of are American Samoa, the American Virgin Islands, Guam, the Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico; all are officially colonies of the United States, in some cases designated as such by the United Nations. But wait a minute: our nation is renowned as the first colony in history to successfully fight for its independence, demanding our right to “no taxation without representation.” Yet today, we now have colonies with citizens equally deprived of that and other basic rights. How can anyone defend that?

The only objections to this amendment would be partisan: well, the representatives and senators of these new states would vote Democratic, so we Republicans can’t allow them into the chambers. But this view is questionable as well: yes, the overwhelming African-American residents of the District of Columbia would probably always vote Democratic, but people in the other territories have elected Republicans as well as Democrats, and the question for Republicans would be: do you really believe that Republicans will be permanently unelectable in places like Puerto Rico and Guam, and do you have so little confidence in the electability of Republicans as to justify permanently excluding them from our democracy? And why?

I do not recall any similar concerns about the admissions of two new states during my lifetime: no Democrats objected that admitting Alaska would result in overwhelming Republican votes (and in fact, the state long elected both Republicans and Democrats), and no Republicans objected that admitting Hawaii would result in overwhelming Democratic votes (and in fact, the state long elected both Democrats and Republicans). And I strongly suspect that similarly mixed results would emerge from the new states of American Samoa, the American Virgin Islands, Guam, the Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico. And I’m sorry, but people should not be denied representation because a political party suspects that they will not vote for them, and any principled politicians should be ashamed to admit that they want to disenfranchise voters solely because they probably won’t support their party. Is that the American way?

Of course, one or more of these territories might opt for independence – like Puerto Rico – or to join an existing nation – like American Samoa, that could merge with the nearby nation of Samoa. And that’s fine; after all, the United States once had control of Cuba and the Philippines, but we allowed them to become independent nations, in keeping with our history of opposing colonialism. In fact, some might see that as the best solution, to eliminate the financial burden of supporting and defending residents of distant nations and to remove the possibility of their voting in an undesirable manner. But as I said, this should be a decision left to the residents of these territories.

These ideas are not new, and they have been raised many times before, but they are unfortunately unlikely to be implemented anytime soon. One might think that President Trump, who has pondered annexing Canada, purchasing Greenland, and even taking over Cuba and Venezuala, would welcome the prospect of adding existing territories to the United States and adding stars to the American flag under his presidency, making him the first president to do so since Dwight Eisenhower. But because most of them are perceived, however incorrectly, as Democratic strongholds, he will surely not be interested. Still, one can hope that a future Congress and a future President will rise above partisan considerations to finally live up to the ideals that have long defined our nation.