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Comment by dylan604 | Hacker News Reader

What would your response be if Russia paid each US citizen $1mmm to vote for allowing it to annex Alaska?

As per the Civil War and SCOTUS rulings during Reconstruction, US States are not allowed to leave the Union. Even if the people of Alaska (or any state for that matter) voted overwhelmingly to secede, the other states would have to pass a constitutional amendment allowing for secession. America’s own Article 50, if you will.

In Greenland’s case, Denmark has guaranteed a right to an independence referendum. A closer parallel would be the status of Puerto Rico as a US territory. The choice to apply for statehood, remain a territory, or vote for independence has no clear majority. However there isn’t anything that would prevent independence for Puerto Rico if that’s what the people there wanted.

Okay, what if some American rich person promised to give $1m to people to vote for the candidate that he was supporting.

Money for votes is the issue I have, regardless of the hypothetical.

That is already illegal under US law. I suppose a foreigner buying votes would likewise be illegal.

In any event I agree with you that buying votes is a perversion of democracy and should not be allowed.

Plenty of ways around it. Look at Musk's bullshit $1 million-a-day voter sweepstakes.

If Denmark was noble enough to allow a referendum in a time when it was regarded the correct thing to do, it does not mean that the referendum can be abused so that the U.S. can later annex the substantial natural resources of Greenland and say it is for everyone's security.

You cite legalistic reasons that make it impossible to annex Alaska. I'm sure similar legalistic reasons can be found to reverse Denmark's offer in an age that has turned neo-colonial.

> guaranteed a right to an independence referendum

exactly a independence referendum

and that is what Greenland wants independence not being a US territory

like think about it why would they want to be US territory it's pretty clear cut worse for them in close to every aspect. Like they would have less self control then under Denmark, they would have a way worse health care system, way worse labor rights, way less democracy, worse legal system etc. No one (who is well informed) in Greenland wants to be a US territory.

It may seem pedantic but once independence is granted Greenland would become a sovereign nation. Sovereign nations have the right to request annexation into another state. Whether that happens within days or a century after independence is immaterial.

the point is they don't want to so if it's happen it would happen because the US forced them to do so which mean the US would have degraded to be on the level of evil states the world would be far better of not existing

it would have betrayed all of it's core values and it's founders would turn around for shame if such a thing where possible for dead people (EDIT: well at lest some of them)

Also like, Greenland never voted to join Denmark. Denmark just took it! Every single US state at least had a ratification vote for the territory to become a state.

California... It was taken by military force ending in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. It ratified statehood 2 years later, so it was annexed and then accepted into the Union, not very legitimate to be done this way.

And by that you probably mean people who just showed up, claimed some land, and then voted?

My response is that Russia does not have $733 billion to throw at that project, but the US has $75 billion to do it in Greenland.

What if the population of Alaska was smaller?

The pop of Alaska is not the relevant number here. Presumably the vote to transfer Alaska to Russia would have to be at the level of the whole country. (The question of whether a state can unilaterally leave the United States has come up in the past and was pretty violently settled.)

> The pop of Alaska is not the relevant number here. Presumably the vote to transfer Alaska to Russia would have to be at the level of the whole country.

No. Nobody proposed a Greenland referendum where all Danes can vote. Greenland ≈ Alaska, Denmark ≈ USA.

Now that you've agreed that it's for sale, let's negotiate the price.

We don't have that authority.

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