# States to revert to Territory status...an idea for an amendment.



## dcs2244 (Jan 29, 2004)

Considering the impending collapse of several states due to fiscal mismanagement, California leading a pack of states which includes our very own Commonwealth, I thought you might be interested in this article I found over at The Rottie Empire. I post the article in its entirety, by permission of the author, and include a link to the original post so that you can read the discussion there...

Level the Ground and Start Over | Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler

Posted by LC Subotai Bahadur, Lord Pao An on November 6, 2010 
His Majesty has mentioned the terminal cluster copulation that the Peoples' Republic of _Alta-California_ is about to become, and indeed it is only leading the pack of failed states. Michigan, Illinois, and Massachusetts are also in the race to make Bangladesh feel good about itself. In a number of forums, there has been mentioned the idea of having California reverting from statehood back to being a Territory long enough to take out the trash. 
There is, of course, no mechanism for such. This is a fact that California is depending upon, figuring that since there is no choice; the rest of us have to pick up their bills forever. I know this is not going to happen, Constitutional Amendments being few and far between, but I thought that I would throw out a possible way to do this, just to make the heads of politicians in those states explode if they hear the concept. 
*PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION REGARDING REVERSION OF A STATE TO TERRITORIAL STATUS.*

Pursuant to Article IV, Section 4 of this Constitution, and its charge to the Federal government to guarantee a Republican form of government to the citizens of the several states; in the event that a state shall be unable to so provide as evidenced by fiscal insolvency of the state government, or a widespread and prolonged breakdown of public order, or a failure to maintain the proper functions of the state government for all citizens and legal residents; the citizens of the state can petition the Congress of the United States for the orderly dissolution of the state government on the following basis:
I.
1) A petition for the dissolution of the state government containing the signatures of 25% of the United States citizens and legal residents of the state and supporting documentation of the reasons for such dissolution shall be forwarded to any Member of that state's delegation to the House of Representatives. The Member shall deliver said petition and documentation to the Clerk of the House and the Speaker of the House.
2) The petition for dissolution shall take priority over all other House business, other than impeachments, and the Speaker will schedule the House to immediately sit as a Committee of the Whole to hear the petition and such arguments for and against as may be offered on behalf of the petitioners and on behalf of the government of the state concerned; sitting as finders of fact as to whether any of the conditions listed above do obtain. If, ¾ of the Representatives present and voting shall agree as to existence of any one of the conditions listed; the case shall be forwarded to the Senate of the United States.
3) Upon receipt in due form from the House of Representatives of any findings that affirm the existence of any one of the conditions listed above; the Senate shall immediately give the petition priority over all business, other than impeachments, and resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole to hear the petition and such arguments for and against as may be offered on behalf of the petitioners and on behalf of the government of the state concerned; sitting as finders of fact as to whether any of the conditions listed above do obtain. If, ¾ of the Senators present and voting shall agree as to existence of any one of the conditions listed; the case shall be forwarded to the President of the United States, to be signed indicating his approval or returned with his objections to the House.
4) If the petition is returned to the House by the President, it shall be subject to the same reconsideration as any other bill; the ¾ vote requirement being applicable for the finding of fact only.
5) If the Petition is approved by both Houses of Congress and either signed by the President, or passed into Law over his objections; at that moment the President shall name a Territorial Governor _pro-tem_ who shall immediately take such steps to have the Federal government conduct a referendum of the registered voting United States citizens of the state on the question of whether the state shall revert to Territorial Status.
II.
1) If the referendum on reversion to Territorial Status shall pass, the Territorial Governor _pro-tem_ shall become the Territorial Governor of a United States Territory encompassing the borders of the former state, and bearing the same name. The Territorial Governor shall have vested in his office the Executive and Legislative power of the Territory, under Federal law as interpreted by the Federal Courts for the Territory. All persons who have served as an elected or appointed official in the government of the former state shall be barred from Territorial Government.
2) Title to all property of the former state government shall revert immediately to the Territory for disposition, as shall the debts owed by the former state. All statutes of the former state, and the former state's constitution shall be null and void immediately upon passage of the referendum, and henceforth. All contracts for goods, services, and employment with the state government shall be void from the passage of the referendum, and subject to re-negotiation or cancellation by the Territorial Government.
3) The Territorial Government will audit the books of the former state, and shall determine the assets and debts of the Territory. In conjunction with the Federal Bankruptcy Courts, the Territorial Government shall dispose of the assets of the Territory to meet the obligations of the former state in accordance with Federal Bankruptcy law. Upon the issuance of the final decree by the Federal Bankruptcy Court, all financial obligations of the former state will be deemed as having been satisfied, and further financial claims based on the actions of the former state shall be forever debarred.
4) At the conclusion of the settlement of the debts of the former state, the Territorial Governor may, at his discretion, call an election for a Territorial Legislature to assume the Legislative powers of the Territory. All persons who have served as an elected or appointed official in the former state shall be barred from the Territorial Legislature.
III.
1) Seven years from the date of the settlement of all the debts of the former state, citizens of the Territory may petition the Congress of the United States for the admission of the Territory, or of such fraction thereof that the citizen residents shall designate, to the Federal Union as a State.
2) All persons who have served as an elected or appointed official of the former state shall be forever barred from elective or appointed office in the new state.
3) Admission of all or part of the Territory to the Federal Union as a state shall follow the procedures and requirements that govern the admission of other states.​There will be questions and objections. I will mention a few, and we can argue about the rest in the comments.
1) _Why would the citizens of California, or any other failed state, petition for Reversion?_ Once there flat is no money, government services except for welfare for favored groups are gone, the last of the employers has fled, and California bonds and warrants have replaced squares of toilet paper; there may be 25-50% of the population who have not imbibed the Kool-Aid. 
2) _Why a ¾ majority in each House?_ This is kind of a nuclear option. We do not want to make it too easy, or something that can be done for transient political advantage. If you can get ¾ of each House, everybody pretty much agrees that the shit has already hit the fan and we have to get mops.
3) _Why only 2/3 to over-ride a presidential veto, then?_ The ¾ is for the finding of fact. If both Houses agree that things are that screwed up, then we revert to normal Constitutional procedures.
4) _Why bar former elected and appointed officials?_ They screwed this pooch, and they probably are the ones fighting the reversion process. The goal is to fix what they screwed up. No individual or group of individuals is so vital that they cannot be dispensed with. If a state with a population of scores of millions cannot find a few thousand individuals who want to fix things to replace the crooks, we need to nuke the place from space.
5) _Why 7 years before an application for statehood?_ It takes 7 years to clear a bankruptcy from one's record; so that is a good span. Further, 7 years of operating under only Federal laws, and without the suffocating layers of state and local regulation and taxation common to the failed states will give things a chance to recover economically so that the new state(s) comprising the territory of the old state will have a head start on avoiding the same traps.
6) _State(s)????? _It is up to the inhabitants of the Territory to decide how they want to be governed, and that includes the size of the State. Just as Colorado used to be part of Kansas Territory, and they previously were both part of the Louisiana Territory; it is not necessary that the former boundaries be regarded as somehow being sacred when the previous state no longer exists. Among the failed states listed above; there have been a number of Californians who want to split the state into up to 5 others to match the political, economic and cultural divisions of the state, Michigan could easily split between Upper and Lower Peninsulas on the same basis, rural Illinois does not have the same interests as Chicago, nor does Western Massachusetts have the same interests as Boston/Cape Cod. Let the people decide, as it is their future. Such, I grant, is heresy to the Left; but if things get so bad as to have states go Tango Uniform, the Left will have been pretty well discredited anyway.
Anyway, I throw this out for comments. If you like the idea, pass it on; if only to cause confusion to the enemy. If you don't, argue here. And I especially want to hear the comments of any LC's in California, etc. Because they are living the collapse, and their opinions on this or other proposed solutions should weigh heavily in the conversation.
LC Subotai Bahadur, Lord _Pao An_


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## OfficerObie59 (Sep 14, 2007)

Seems to me most of the problems we're in are because of the lack of respect for federalism, not because we should be closer to the federal government. Just seems to me like a fancy way for states to declare bankruptcy.


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## dcs2244 (Jan 29, 2004)

OfficerObie59 said:


> Seems to me most of the problems we're in are because of the lack of respect for federalism, not because we should be closer to the federal government. Just seems to me like a fancy way for states to declare bankruptcy.


I agree with the idea that only lip service has been played to the concept of federalism. The idea that the federal government is going to sit back and let a state go bankrupt, doing nothing, is absurd. They will make all of us pay for the stupidity of the affected states electorate; it's bad enough we will have to pay for the commonwealth's stupidity.

I took this more as the federal government, by the appointment of a "territorial governor" would oversee the rehabilitation of the failed state, without direct congressional/executive oversight; Something akin to Chelsea or Springfield, but on a larger scale.


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## Guest (Nov 7, 2010)

I think the liberals would prefer the Lantigua Amendment:
Upon the request of the executive branch of a city or state, millions (if not billions) may be giving to that entity with no strings attached. The aforementioned request may only be fulfilled if the following are met:
Executive branch is led by democRats with the proper amount of hacks. 
70% of residents do not pay taxes. 
100% of the aforementioned residents receive all benefits and income from the state. 
Promise to lay off more than 50% of the police and fire departments. 
Have no intention of being accountable to how the requested funds are wasted. 

Sent from my Droid Incredible using Tapatalk.


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