A good friend from outside the USA recently gave me a copy of "The WEALTH and POVERTY of NATIONS" by David S. Landes. It got me thinking about things we could do to improve our freedoms and security including physical, economic, and social. One approach for consideration is to invite Mexico and Canada to become states of the USA.
Our current borders with both Mexico and Canada are so long that it is not cost-effective to completely control them. The flow of people is into the USA from both the North and South, for obvious reasons, including some of the information in the table above (i.e. economic improvement migration). If Mexico and Canada were states then we Americans would be free to help develop the overall economy of North America instead of just within our current territory.
Obviously, there would have to be some adjustments to common standards for everyone including: laws (USA Constitution), language (American - formerly called English), measurement (Metric System), human / property / freedom rights (including transfer of oil & mineral rights to surface land owners), and infrastructure standards (e.g. electricity, water, transportation, building, safety). Mexico and Canada would each begin electing 2 senators plus representatives based on population. Naturalized (not native) citizenship should be granted to current citizens of Mexico and Canada then children born after unification would be native citizens.
This proposal is something that has been moving forward because of natural forces. The North America Free Trade Agreement is a bureaucratic, inefficient, and ineffective attempt to accomplish the economic goals while protecting the government employment of all 3 Nations. Better to begin making this happen with the full involvement of everyone affected by these trends in a more holistic, humane, and efficient manner.
Our current borders with both Mexico and Canada are so long that it is not cost-effective to completely control them. The flow of people is into the USA from both the North and South, for obvious reasons, including some of the information in the table above (i.e. economic improvement migration). If Mexico and Canada were states then we Americans would be free to help develop the overall economy of North America instead of just within our current territory.
Obviously, there would have to be some adjustments to common standards for everyone including: laws (USA Constitution), language (American - formerly called English), measurement (Metric System), human / property / freedom rights (including transfer of oil & mineral rights to surface land owners), and infrastructure standards (e.g. electricity, water, transportation, building, safety). Mexico and Canada would each begin electing 2 senators plus representatives based on population. Naturalized (not native) citizenship should be granted to current citizens of Mexico and Canada then children born after unification would be native citizens.
This proposal is something that has been moving forward because of natural forces. The North America Free Trade Agreement is a bureaucratic, inefficient, and ineffective attempt to accomplish the economic goals while protecting the government employment of all 3 Nations. Better to begin making this happen with the full involvement of everyone affected by these trends in a more holistic, humane, and efficient manner.
I think that before we'll ever see a State called Mexico, the US and Mexico will need to further integrate in the other areas you elaborated on. For example, the European Union has been integrating for 50 years and still isn't one country with one leader, one foreign policy, one economy, or one currency. In fact, right now as we speak they're still debating an EU constitution and the position of the EU President.
ReplyDeleteCanada may be a different story. That would be a much easier process, especially if Quebec were to leave Canada. However, seeing both of those countries as US states seem a long way off, especially now that the US is seeing a drastic decline in the economy and foreign policy dominance.