This one is a little less ‘flashy’, but is no less important to the sense of the United States as a Democracy (yes, a capital ‘D’). All residents of a Democracy should be treated with respect and equal rights and protections. The U.S. rules over a number of Territories and the District of Columbia, yet residents of those areas are not treated equally to residents of the States.

The Territories and Districts Amendment

Any District or Territory of the United States, with a population no less than the least populous State, may become a State by a majority vote of the District or Territory and approval of Congress or a National Referendum.

Any District or Territory of the United States, with a population less than the least populous State, may become part of an existing State by a majority vote of the District or Territory, a majority vote of the State, and approval of Congress or a National Referendum.

Beginning with the next Congress:

All Districts and Territories of the United States, with a population no less than the least populous State, shall be treated as a State for all purposes, including but not limited to full rights of representation in Congress, citizenship, rights, and responsibilities.

All Districts and Territories of the United States, with a population less than the least populous State, shall be treated as one single State for all purposes, excluding the test for least populous State, and including but not limited to full rights of representation in Congress, citizenship, rights, and responsibilities.

Considering the preceding descriptions of districts, territories, and groups of districts and territories as being treated as states:

• The total number of Representatives will be 435.
• The total number of Senators will be twice the number of states and group states.
• All states and group states will have a minimum of one Representative and one Senator.
• The remaining seats for Representatives and Senators both shall be distributed as previously done for Representatives by relative populations.
• All Representatives and Senators shall have equal rights, privileges, benefits, and duties, regardless of whether they represent a State, District, Territory, or group of Districts and Territories.

The decennial census shall count all residents of each state, territory, and district, whether citizens or not, and those full counts shall be used for purposes of allocating Representatives and Senators.

The District of Columbia has a population greater than Vermont and Wyoming, and almost as great as Alaska and North Dakota, yet has no representation in Congress. Puerto Rico has voted 4 times to become a state, but the Senate has refused to vote on adding them to the U.S. as a State. Puerto Rico has no representation in Congress, and has a population greater than EIGHTEEN states. The United States was founded, in large part, because they weren’t being treated fairly by their government and had no representation in that government.

Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands together have a population around 340,000. That’s more than half of the Vermont’s population, and well more than half of Wyoming’s population, but again, they have no representation in Congress.

The residents of any ground controlled by the U.S. should have constitutional rights and representation equal to what all U.S. citizens receive. Puerto Rico has repeatedly indicated, via votes, that they would like to be a State, but the Senate, heavily weighted to be “ruled by a minority”, has refused to even discuss or vote on the issue, almost certainly because that ruling minority is either afraid of Puerto Rico’s politics or are racist. I can’t see any other way to read those tea leaves.

Further, this amendment changes how Senators are apportioned among the states. It still wouldn’t be perfect, but perfect is the enemy of better. The House of Representatives is reasonably well balanced in how the Representatives are apportioned among the states, because there are enough Representatives for the slight unequalness of population-to-representative is minor. The Senate has far fewer numbers than the House, so achieving anywhere near the same equality of representation in the Senate is pretty much impossible without just turning the Senate into another House of Representatives. However, the above scheme, of every state getting ONE Senator and an equal number of Senators then being apportioned by population, would at least move the Senate closer to a balance between equal representation of PEOPLE and making sure that small STATES don’t get run over by large STATES. Again, this would move the U.S. much closer to a true Democracy, where everyone is treated equally and has equal rights and possibilities.

-Everett