# Should the United States join the Commonwealth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 6, 2019, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376 "2019-10-06T23:01:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/21 "2019-10-07T09:11:19Z")
Admitting a huge, really huge, failing democracy that is one of the least free counties on the face of the earth based on incarceration rates, that is vehemently opposed to human basics such as health care for all and protection from being shot to death, and that wages trade war on Canada on the trumped up grounds that Canada is a security risk? Not just no, hell no! That would be the equivalent of letting a large mad bull loose in a small china shop. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/22 "2019-10-07T09:21:43Z")
Almost a third of humanity lives in the Commonwealth, but no country dominates the Commonwealth. The USA is in the habit of trying to dominate everything it touches. That would not be healthy for the Commonwealth. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/23 "2019-10-07T09:42:00Z")
Hold on, hold on. How strong is the U.S. Cricket team? I think we should start with the basics before considering further. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/24 "2019-10-07T09:44:34Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Do all members of the Commonwealth not recognize the Queen as head of state? As others have pointed out, no. Curiously, there are members of the Commonwealth who have never had any colonial/administrative or constitutional connection with the Crown or another Commonwealth member. Of course that’s the rare exception, but the door is not sealed shut against new members who do not have any connection. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/25 "2019-10-07T11:08:01Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Nitpick: the Commonwealth has no role or function in relation to trade talks. It’s not a trading bloc of any kind and never was. Membership does not involve or imply any special trading terms with other Commonwealth countries. I know, but it’s a relationship builder, useful for things _such as_ trade talks. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/26 "2019-10-07T11:15:42Z")
No way in hell I’m calling elevators “lifts”, regardless of the penalties. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/27 "2019-10-07T11:41:31Z")
The rebellious child nation returns. It may be good for us in a sense, to make peace with our past and to embrace our heritage. Our nation still holds on to anger from it’s beginnings, and it is present in it’s population, we are a nation of angry people and are still hurting from our origins. Reconnecting with respect but with sovereignty intact would be a healing moment for our great nation and open the doors to a brighter future for us. Going it alone is never a great idea. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/28 "2019-10-07T11:41:44Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > No way in hell I’m calling elevators “lifts”, regardless of the penalties. A lot of folks throughout the Commonwealth speak English as a second language. Beyond English, Hindi is the native language spoken by more Commonwealth people than any other native language. Out of curiosity, I typed elevator into Google Translate. In Hindi it returned लिफ्ट which it pronounced as . . . _lift_. 😉 > **[Google Translate](https://translate.google.ca/?hl=en&tab=wT#view=home&op=translate&sl=auto&tl=hi&text=elevator)** > > Google's service, offered free of charge, instantly translates words, phrases, and web pages between English and over 100 other languages. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/29 "2019-10-07T12:33:11Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > No way in hell I’m calling elevators “lifts”, regardless of the penalties. Call them what you like, there are all sorts of linguistic variants across the Commonwealth. In Australia, they call flip-flops thongs (that’s the only time I’ve seen Germaine Greer look confused, when everyone else thought she was talking about her underwear ). Of course, as the newest member, the US representative would only get to lay their Remembrance Day wreath at the Cenotaph in the final group of later-membership countries, alongside Mozambique and Rwanda. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/30 "2019-10-07T12:35:34Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > In Australia, they call flip-flops thongs (that’s the only time I’ve seen Germaine Greer look confused, when everyone else thought she was talking about her underwear ). In America, that was an occasional variant but lost out to flip-flips some time in the 90s. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/31 "2019-10-07T13:06:42Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > The OP is correct. > > The Commonwealth is a bit more complicated beast than you seem to think. > They all recognise QEII as UK Head of State. Well, that’s true of almost every country in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/32 "2019-10-07T13:49:24Z")
The Commonwealth is a talking shop for the non-American English-speaking nations. American membership would overwhelm the voices of the smaller nations. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/33 "2019-10-07T14:09:55Z")
It’'s just one voice, though. You don’t get to send everyone in your country to the meetings. Being a member of the Commonwealth really doesn’t amount to anything. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/34 "2019-10-07T15:39:47Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Being a member of the Commonwealth really doesn’t amount to anything. I’m sure it could arrange technical assistance with developing useful new policies on a range of social topics, if you wanted the other members to help with that sort of thing.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/35 "2019-10-07T16:31:51Z")
The only thing a country gets out of belonging to the Commonwealth is the ability to participate in the Commonwealth Games every four years. And I don’t think we should enter into an agreement that’s going to require us to learn the rules of cricket. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/36 "2019-10-07T16:42:09Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Please discuss the advantages India currently enjoys over Pakistan by continuing to recognize the British monarch as head of state. Besides the corrections given by others, I’ll add that a state cannot both be a republic (whose essential definition is “not a monarchy”) and also recognize a monarch as head of state. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/37 "2019-10-07T17:01:38Z")
I thought that members of Commonwealth nations had immigration benefits; that is that it is easier for members of Commonwealth states to emigrate to another Commonwealth state. If that is correct, then put me down as a “yes” on this notion. Sign us up! ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/38 "2019-10-07T20:00:23Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > I thought that members of Commonwealth nations had immigration benefits; that is that it is easier for members of Commonwealth states to emigrate to another Commonwealth state. If that is correct, then put me down as a “yes” on this notion. Sign us up! Nope. There are some reciprocal “working holiday” arrangements for young people, but every country makes its own rules, and I don’t think any do any special favours for other Commonwealth countries in the general run of immigration applications. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/39 "2019-10-07T20:37:40Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Nope. There are some reciprocal “working holiday” arrangements for young people, but every country makes its own rules, and I don’t think any do any special favours for other Commonwealth countries in the general run of immigration applications. Commonwealth citizens living in the UK have some rights that American or EU citizens\* of similar status don’t have eg can stand as an MP, can vote in general elections. - Ireland is an exception - Irish citizens are essentially treated the same as UK citizens in the UK ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376/40 "2019-10-07T20:43:03Z")
I don’t want the Americans in the Commonwealth. They’ll just mess the place up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-united-states-join-the-commonwealth/841376.md?page=3)