178 points
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No, this is what we do. 51=17x3. 52=26x2. 53, however is a prime number so it can’t be divided.

We make PR a state, Guam, and DC.

AND WE BECOME… One nation, indivisible.

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44 points

You have . . . a point.

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22 points

Squish the Dakotas together and make PR a state, we wouldn’t even need a new flag.

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14 points

Wymonkota, anyone?

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4 points

Yes!

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5 points
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As a former Dakotan of the north, screw South Dakota aka the lesser Dakota. North Dakota actually pays taxes unlike Switzerland of the us. A joke we had: how do you know you’re in South Dakota? Potholes every quarter mile instead of every mile in the road.

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2 points

I like your idea. But instead of squish, I say death match and we detach the loser.

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1 point

How would we detach a land locked state? I’m here for your idea, I’m just wondering about the logistics.

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16 points

No silly, we COMBINE some of the 18 low-population states so we can go back to 48! One nation 6x8, with a better balance in representation! Or 45 could be nice as well.

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23 points
*

overly positive elementary school teacher voice* “okay low pop states find your buddy.” “to make it easier for some of you if your state starts with a cardinal direction congrats you’ve already got a preassigned merge buddy and new name!”… “ah no Kansas, ‘Ar’ is not a direction, you and Arkansas wont work you don’t even share a border hun” “…unless” Kansouri-Oklasas

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14 points

Why combine extant states? Just pull a colonial Europe and draw a whole new map over it! Nuts to “natural boundaries” or “cultural similarities”, everyone on the east coast from DC to King’s Bay is now part of the State of Midlantic.

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5 points

Gerrymander the state borders!

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5 points

We need to copy Canada: just give up and assign that unpopulated blob as “Northwest Territories “. All done in one move

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2 points

But even Canada gave up on that approach and is having Nunavut.

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2 points

Just break a pool cue and force them to fight tbh

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12 points

This needs to be a meme.

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1 point

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1 point

No factors, still divisible.

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-3 points

Guam + Marianas would make more sense, very low populations out ðere

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65 points

Until Puerto Rico is a state, I believe they shouldn’t have to pay taxes. No taxation without representation.

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39 points

They are exempt from federal income tax.

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29 points
*

While a good start, they do still pay other kinds of federal taxes (without representation), such as payroll taxes

https://espaciosabiertos.org/facts-does-puerto-rico-really-not-pay-federal-taxes-a-common-misconception/

And paid $4 billion in federal taxes in 2021 https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/puerto-rico-us-territory-crisis#chapter-title-0-4

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3 points

Are they getting anything for the taxes?

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19 points

this is also why the license plates in DC have the slogan “taxation without representation”

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62 points

God you can’t even have colonies anymore, another victim of wokeness

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53 points

I’m not sure that more than 50% of Puerto Rico wants to be a state.

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48 points

They vote on it rather frequently. They do at the moment but it does waffle a bit.

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7 points

The last vote had a very huge abstention ‘vote’, which was the only reason the ‘for’ vote out performed the ‘against’.

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12 points

If “no vote” was a candidate I don’t think we would have had a president since Jefferson.

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8 points

What are the downsides to becoming a state?

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21 points

Puerto Rico doesn’t pay federal taxes

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24 points
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PR is so poor that very few there would pay income tax. The majority of people would actually receive money due to the EITC.

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4 points

I’m sure there’s good reasons involving Cultural identity and policy disagreement that they wouldn’t want to become a state, but it really seems like it would be a huge win financially.

It would be Missouri yet again holding the bag. They’d no longer be able to plead poverty for more federal funding.

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30 points

But that would shift the election in favour of the Democrats…

Yes - if the GOP can’t survive more proportional representation, they shouldn’t.

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15 points

Potentially. Puerto Rico is also a religious state.

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10 points

Religious doesn’t MEAN republican, just so happens to be one of the things that usually indicates a Republican.

I know plenty of smart religious people who are democrats. Most of the draw for the US is Christian nationalism (aka white supremacy) that I think won’t work on most in PR.

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3 points

There is nothing christian about republican policies. Most Black folks are christian and vote dem in overwhelming numbers.

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1 point

You say white supremacy like a bunch of latino men don’t vote republican.

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5 points
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Most latinos are religious, or from religious areas, and, I would wager, most are pretty conservative in a lot of ways. However they, as a majority, go for the democratic party.

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6 points

If it wasn’t for gerrymandering and voter suspension they would’ve been extinct a while back. We might’ve even had something other than a 2 party system and ranked choice voting. People would be surprised by what could be if we didn’t have a greedy minority in a big ass coat pretending we want to see them make all the money while they keep squeezing us for our pennies.

But hey, I should be thankful for my 30k a yr and paying for insurance that’ll tell you to forget about surgery just slap a bandaid on it

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2 points

Don’t forget the electoral college…

Broken-ass excuse for a democracy that’ll be shattered if Trump wins.

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