Properly conceived and implemented, these territorial acquisitions would serve a dual purpose. Not only would they enlarge the size of America geographically and thereby increase security, both economically and militarily; but more importantly, territorial expansion 21st-century style holds the promise of making possible a great leap back to the future of American federalism and constitutional government as they originally were conceived by the Founding Fathers.
Think of using the new territories not only as security platforms and a means to free up commerce but also as real laboratories of democracy—with leverage—to entice existing states to seek for themselves any kind of tax and regulatory benefits that might be bestowed on the new territories. Rather than viewing the competitive advantages accruing to the new territories—such as an exclusion from federal income tax and a prohibition against adopting a territorial income tax—as 'unfair' and a reason to oppose them, states should instead seize the opportunity to free their own residents from this destructive federal tax by pushing for its repeal.
Used in this manner, the new territorial acquisitions would create a powerful force for reviving the Old American Republic based on federalism. The pressures on states to demand equal footing with the new territories would be enormous, lest they experience a wave of relocation as individuals and businesses vote with their feet, seeking out a “new frontier” of freedom and opportunity in the new territories.
The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to “make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States,” which permits Congress to make the new territories permanent exceptions to wide swathes of extant federal law and regulations; in other words, to establish autonomous new lands unincumbered by the inefficient and tyrannical laws, taxes and regulations currently crushing American citizens and companies living and doing business in the states.
If the acquisitions are done carefully, with this long-term vision in mind, the process could lead to a set of powerful incentives that not only would draw the new territories, and any future subdivisions of them, toward future statehood; but also simultaneously would stimulate the existing states to insist on equal footing to regain the freedom they lost to Washington over the past 125 years. It would provide an alternative to the growing sentiment for secession, while making it possible for the new territories to avoid legislative, executive and judicial overreach that has allowed the federal government to grow unchecked at the expense of the states and individual American citizens—Jefferson famously said, “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground;” to enjoy the benefits of a highly decentralized system with truly concurrent powers, moving back to the future of the traditional American ideal of governance, characterized by individual liberty, true local autonomy and a federal government strictly limited in its authority and the policies it pursues.
When a new territory is established, Congress usually passes an “Organic Act” that outlines the governance structure, including how federal laws will or will not apply and what the territory may or may not do on its own. These acts can specify exemptions and exceptions from or modifications to federal laws to suit the unique circumstances or needs of the territory. Congress also might choose to apply only certain federal laws to a territory or modify how they are enforced.
While federal law generally applies to current U.S. territories, Congress can, and often does include special exceptions or modifications to federal law to account for the diverse needs, historical contexts and political arrangements of each territory. For instance, territories might be required or allowed to have different tax laws, different commercial, environmental and public health-and-safety laws and regulations.
Think of the dynamics at play here this way: The territories naturally would evolve out of their territorial status toward statehood but only if statehood could bring greater benefits than remaining a singular territory; while the existing states naturally would seek the enormous benefits enjoyed by the new territories and demand that they be released from their currently untenable indenture to the central government in Washington to enjoy those benefits themselves.
Experimenting with a new federalism in the territories could begin to revive the decaying system of checks and balances overall by truly distributing power, not just horizontally among branches of government but also vertically between federal, state and local governments. A revival of autonomous governance applying the precepts of federalism (or the principles of “subsidiarity” as preached by the Catholic Church, which holds that human affairs are best handled at the lowest possible level, closest to the affected persons) also would serve as an additional safeguard against overreach or corruption at any single level of government.
As Trump faces this historic Thomas Jefferson moment, he would be advised to expand his thinking beyond merely national security and commercial concerns to include consideration of constitutional renewal and using these territorial acquisitions to establish functioning exemplars of what the Founding Fathers envisioned states to be. One avenue would be to examine how Britain’s Channel Islands (consisting primarily of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark and Herm) might point the way.
Unlike other far-flung British Overseas Territories (e.g., the Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands), the Channel Islands are Crown Dependencies, meaning they are possessions of the British Crown but not part of the United Kingdom. They are self-governing in domestic matters but the UK is responsible for their defense and international representation. Residents of the Channel Islands are British citizens, but they can also hold status as British (overseas) nationals or have specific islander status that provides certain rights and privileges within the islands. Crown Dependencies have a higher degree of autonomy in domestic affairs compared to most British Overseas Territories. Their legal systems are distinct from both the UK and British Overseas Territories. And while they do not have direct representation in the UK Parliament, they have their own robust parliamentary systems, and they possess a high degree of autonomy in judicial matters.
Experimentation in the new territories with radical political and economic decentralization could rekindle in the states the spirit of the original constitutional design, where governance was closer to the people, protecting liberty, encouraging innovation, demanding accountability at the local level and autonomy from an oppressive central government.
Experiments in leveraging technology for transparency in government in the new territories—rather than allowing Big Tech and federal agencies to run amok surveilling and censoring individual—and freeing entrepreneurs and innovators from the shackles of overweening government could produce an irresistible force, not only for revival and renewal of federalism in particular, but also constitutional principles generally.
Territorial acquisitions with significantly consequential territorial benefits to shock the states into action may be the last exit before the American Empire cracks up on the shoals of secession.
Think big, Mr. President. Do not let this Thomas Jefferson moment pass without seizing it to jumpstart devolution back to the future of federalism and sound constitutional principles. Let’s begin to make American great again by making the new territories great at the outset. Let’s put America first, by first putting the new territories at a significant competitive advantage the states cannot resist acquiring for themselves.
