Kick a state out of the Union.

In My Humble Opinion
1

Not long ago I asked if the U.S. could eject a state from the Union, the consensus being that it was probably unconstitutional, so an amendment would be needed. Some said that they had a list of candidates for removal, so…

The 28th Amendment is passed giving you sole authority to boot one and only one state out of the Union. You have to pick one! The people demand a more perfect Union through dispensing with whatever your choice is. They will then be considered by the remaining states to be a foreign country. Make sure to give your reasons.

2

Great, another thread where Dopers can pile on Texas.

3

If I dare say, booting out Texas would deprive the rest of the Union of its substantial natural resources, so choose wisely. I hope I spelt all the states names correct in the poll, forgive me for any typos.

4

Hawaii. And take Alaska too, while you’re at it. Keep it contiguous, I say.

If you were to kick out, say, Alabama, the country would look like a smile with a missing tooth. Kind of apropos, once you think about it.

5

Kick out Hawaii. A good percentage of your population already thinks it’s a foreign country.

6

I’m mean, and went for California.
It’s sinking down, down down. Would really rather not have it take anyone else with it.

I meant this economically, but I suppose if we wait long enough, it’ll be at the bottom of the ocean anyway, so…give it time?

7

I voted Wyoming.

Let’s make it the Switzerland of North America.

8

Voted for California, for economic reasons. Let them bail out their own debt before applying for re-admission.

9

Who wants Mississippi? I mean really, what does it add?

10

I vote California. Once we are free of the drag of the rest of you, we can bounce back to being the 5th largest economy on the planet.

Of course, that means an immediate defensive war to secure our water supplies, so the new borders will be a bit more to the east that they are now.

11

I’ll play, though I think don’t think the US would be improved by kicking out any state.

But if I had to, which would be the best strategic choice?

I wouldn’t want to create a foreign country within the middle of the US. That would be a bad idea from a security/defense standpoint, so states like Utah, Kansas, etc. are off the table. I think Hawaii is valuable from a military POV, right? And Alaska is definitely a keeper for its resources. So I’ll have to pick a state from the contiguous 48 that lies on the outer border. But not a coastal state–again for security reasons.

North Dakota, maybe, simply because of the location and low population. Or Arizona? Both of those have a lot of land, though. So maybe Vermont? I hear it’s full of dirty hippies anyway. :wink: Or maybe Maine. There’s all kinds of crazy stuff going on up there, according to Stephen King. But that’s on the coast, so Vermont it is!

12

I took the same tack. At least Alaska is on the continent, plus it has more natural resources. Hawaii was a nation once – it can even restore the royal family if it wants!

13

Texas, I’m a native and we don’t really want to play your reindeer games :wink:

14

You won’t be missed, Texas.

15

I voted for Arizona. Because I think it will be hilarious when we tell them we’re closing our borders to keep them out. Plus we’ll get to see Joe Arpaio being told he can’t run for President of Arizona because he’s not a natural born citizen.

16

If we gave North Dakota to Canada, would anybody notice?

17

I voted for Arizona because I’ve lived there. I hate that state.

18

Kenya.

19

North Dakota.

Too damn cold to care about. Let Canada have it.

20

I went for Oklahoma, but debated about Kansas or Missouri for a while. I figure we could make it the entitled white men penile colony.

Doesn’t have much to see and few resources that we can’t get elsewhere.