# Should The US Add New States?- Take Two **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 8, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-add-new-states-take-two/339065 "2006-01-08T23:27:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-add-new-states-take-two/339065/61 "2006-01-10T19:00:02Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Isn’t it already permanent? **NO.** ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-add-new-states-take-two/339065/62 "2006-01-10T20:00:21Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > **NO.** Eventually, Israel is going to need more territory. If they join the US (like they haven’t already) they gain access to the whole section of North American territory the US already occupies, and the US officially gains their territory. Then we fill it with Mc Donalds, Starbucks & Walmarts. If we can make a chunk of worthless desert into Las Vegas Nevada, think what we could do with Israel, and starting there, what we could do with the Middle East. We get Israeli intelligence, rather than them spying on us. Israel has a very well educated work force. We could definitely use that. The whole making Iraq a capitalist democratic Mecca thing isn’t working out. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-add-new-states-take-two/339065/63 "2006-01-10T20:22:16Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Eventually, Israel is going to need more territory. :eek: What the **FUCK?!!** This is a whoosh, right? Any sane person can see that what Israel most urgently and desperately needs is to have **less** territory! And if Israel is to unite with any other country on Earth, the only choice that makes any sense at all (and even then, not much) is Jordan! ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-add-new-states-take-two/339065/64 "2006-01-10T20:51:16Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > :eek: What the **FUCK?!!** > > This is a whoosh, right? I too hope that was a whoosh… > **[List of countries and dependencies by population density](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_density)** > > This is a list of countries and dependent territories ranked by population density, measured by the number of human inhabitants per square kilometer or square mile, and also sortable by total area and by population. The list includes sovereign states and self-governing dependent territories based upon the ISO standard ISO 3166-1. The list also includes unrecognized but de facto independent countries. The figures in the following table are based on areas including internal bodies of water such as ... Gaza and the West Bank both rank far higher than Israel. And I don’t see anybody talking about expansionist land-grabs by Holland or Belgium :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-add-new-states-take-two/339065/65 "2006-01-10T20:54:23Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > :eek: What the **FUCK?!!** > > This is a whoosh, right? > > Any sane person can see that what Israel most urgently and desperately needs is to have **less** territory! I can’t think of any nation on this earth that thinks it needs _less_ territory. > [@](#): > > And if Israel is to unite with any other country on Earth, the only choice that makes any sense at all (and even then, not much) is Jordan! I can’t imagine Israel ever becoming part of Jordan, nor can I imagine Jordan ever becoming part of Israel. But I _can_ imagine Jordanians doing most of their shopping in Israel, United States of America, and deciding it’s not worth blowing up stuff all the time when they can visit their favorite holy shrine and then get a nice frappacino at the Starbucks across the street. ---
**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:** [January 11, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-add-new-states-take-two/339065/66 "2006-01-11T15:40:35Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > go back to the original ring of 13 stars My understanding is that the “ring” arrangement of 13 stars was less used than other arrangements and didn’t actually become popular as a representation of the Revolutionary-era flag until the Civil War era. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-add-new-states-take-two/339065/67 "2006-01-11T17:15:07Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > A better question would be, where could you start? The Constitution says no state can be deprived of territory without its own consent. IOW, Congress can’t simply sit down and reorganize the state lines. NYC can become a separate state only if the state legislature of New York agrees\*, and what are the odds? Let’s look at it this way: if the state of New York consented to divide itself up into two (or more) pieces, the resulting pieces would have two or more governorships, two or more lieutenant governorships, two or more attorney generalships, four or more U.S. Senators, and so forth. Can you say “more opportunities for political advancement”? I bet _they_ could! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-add-new-states-take-two/339065.md?page=3)