in the scenario where denmark actually decides to sell Greenland to the us and the people of greenland agree on joining the usa

25 comments

  1. First and foremost, the people living in Greenland should want to join the United States and that has not been apparent yet.

  4. Seems like territory for the sake of territory. I don’t think the Greenlanders would be any happier as a state, they seem good with the current system where they get money from Copenhagen and do whatever they please.

  5. I can’t imagine it being added as a state, it has a very low population. I’d be down for adding it as a territory. Would be a very long term investment for the US.

  6. Well, politically speaking, Greenland would have two Senators, one Representative, and three electoral votes.

    It would definitely change the balance of power in the Senate. I personally don’t care very much about that, but some Americans care *ferociously*. As soon as polling showed that the Senators from Greeland were likely to be Democrats or Republicans, the other party would start furiously trying to block the admission into statehood.

  8. Greenland looks beautiful.

    If they want in I’d be cool with that. Maybe flights would get cheaper so I could visit.

  9. Only on the condition that we rename it Iceland and then bully Iceland into changing their name to Greenland so that things finally make sense.

  10. Greenland has the highest suicide rate in the world at 83 people per 100,000 on average per year, do we really want to upset them further?

  11. It would be extremely unlikely Denmark would sell Greenland to the US, and the US doesn’t want to buy Greenland.

    The entire suggestion to do so was from Donald Trump, who is no longer the President. It was not part of any larger policy agenda in the US.

    Greenland also almost certainly would not immediately become a state. We have a number of places that are part of the US but are not one of the states: Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa are some of those territories. It would be a completely separate process to become a state beyond simply being bought by the US.

    Also, Greenland has a population well below what we’d consider criteria for statehood, and given the climate there, that isn’t likely to increase substantially.

    . . .if Greenland was sold to the US, and the people of Greenland wanted statehood, and the Congress voted to add it, we’d welcome them. . .but that is extremely unlikely to happen.

  12. What do the people who live in Greenland want. That’s my only concern with regards to this question.

  14. Politically, it would probably benefit the left, but not sure about that. Adding a few House reps and 2 Senators would significantly change the currently fine balance of power.

    I don’t know much about Greenland, but, I would guess there might be significant resources available for exploitation as all that nasty ice melts away.

  16. If we’re going to have a 51st state, there are a lot better contenders than a nation that hasn’t indicated they want to join us. Puerto Rico, DC, The US Virgin Islands and Guam are just a few of the US Territories that should be considered for Statehood. Also, I’m not Danish or a Greenlander, but I don’t think Denmark can just sell them.

  18. Um, let’s give statehood to the people in territories and districts we already hold who want statehood. These are disenfranchised people who live under our control and under our banner.

  19. If they wanted to, sure, but frankly I see it as a bad fit for all involved.

    – it would definitely upset the apple cart in the US if Greenland and its 56,000 people got statehood before either Washington, DC (690,000) or Puerto Rico (3.2 million).
    – the people of Greenland, with two Senators and presumably one Representative, would immediately have the greatest representation per capita in the US. That wouldn’t sit well with a lot of folks.
    – and yet, with next to no Electoral College representation, Greenland would have virtually no say in Presidential elections.
    – finally, Greenland would be linguistically, culturally, and geographically separate from the other states.

  20. It would be a territory not a state. To few people. Would welcome them if they wanted to join our union.

  21. It wouldn’t become a state, honestly, unless climate change somehow makes it viable land. The US has several different island territories all around the Pacific and Atlantic, and while the peoples living on them are considered American Citizens, that doesn’t really ‘kick in’ until they step on the mainland. They can’t even vote. Hawaii is a state because of the plantations, historical colonial residence on it, and its strategic value. Greenland, being a block of arctic land, doesn’t have any residential value to North America outside of some research stations, and though there are apparently resources on it the US would like, they’re not easy to get unless you move the ice. I’m fairly confident if it had any value as a main territory, the US would have already tried to annex it by force long ago back when they were spreading out, instead of haggling with an essentially-powerless Denmark.

    If the US *did* buy Greenland, it would be a strategic buy. And I don’t know how that would go over with the Greenlandic people, honestly. I’d hope they get a say in the matter, but knowing the US, I don’t think they’re that considerate when Matters Of The Empire are at hand :/

  23. I am Danish. This is a people you cant just sell them. We did very wrong to them 50 years ago, they are just starting to recover from that. But you cant just sell them, its independence or staying in Denmark, Trumps idea to buy Greenland was very very weird.

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