Now there's an interesting dilemma. It reminds me of the Quebecois 'secession' movement in Canada of the past few decades. If it had succeeded, the 'Maritime' provinces of Canada would have been isolated and probably ended up joining the US. AND... several of Canada's western provincial governments at the time (Alberta and Saskatchewan) had contacted the US State department and asked about the process of joining the US if this happened, so British Columbia would also have been cut off from the 'central' part in Ontario which would probably have led
them to join the US within a few years. After that, what happens to the Yukon and NW territories? In other words, if Quebec had succeeded in mustering the political will to break out of Canada it would have shattered and in short order Canada = Ontario and maybe the 'Eskimo' province of Nunavut. Though they'd probably have declared independence by the time B.C. and the Maritimes had joined the US.
At the time I pondered the political ramifications for the US much as you have been discussing the Australia issue. By US political standards most Canadians are outright socialist. Adding a dozen or more 'far left' senators to the US senate would be an incredible earthquake in US politics. Lots of things that conservatives have been just barely staving off would get enacted, like national health care. Yet... it's precisely those 'conservatives' who would be most disadvantaged by this who are the most 'nationalistic' and would be in favor of extending the US anywhere and everywhere they can. It would be really fascinating to see how they would deal with a major movement to add something to the US, whether a province of Canada, a part (or all) of Australia, or perhaps Cuba after Castro (another very real possibility). All of these territories have populations that would be mostly in opposition to them once the 'conservatives' got them into the union. How would they react to this situation?
At present I think this 'Statehood for Australia' movement far less serious than the Quebec secession movement and that was only half serious. The other half was just seeing what they could get out of the Federal government by rattling the bars of their cage.
The author is correct that (much like Canada) Australia just doesn't have a very strong
positive sense of national identity, so they tend to daydream idly about 'changing' things even if they don't really want to. Being in fact a distinct nation, if not a confident one, they would have many issues with just adopting the US political/legal/cultural world wholesale. So unless there is a major economic collapse or some other situation that would make Australians seek 'rescue' by the big, powerful US I don't think you need to worry about it too much.
It
would be kinda cool to have US Interstate highways running all the way from Washington, D.C. to Nome, Alaska with no border crossings, wouldn't it?
And maybe we would build a 90-mile suspension bridge to Cuba if they joined? Or a tunnel?
Australia would have to be happy with air links, I'm afraid, but we could build a really cool space port or two on the northern side near the equator and have sub-orbital shuttles for quick high-priority transit.
[ July 17, 2003, 17:39: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]