There's a photocopy making the rounds here in Barcelona; it consists of an American flag with what appears to be a 51st star; if you look at it closely, though, the 51st star is in the shape of the map of Spain. It's actually kind of funny, though of course by no means accurate. It made me think, though: what if Spain were the 51st state?

Well, it would be the biggest state by far; California has about 34 million people and Spain has about 40 million. If congressional seats were divided proportionately--California's got 52--Spain would get 66. There would be a new total of 501 seats in Congress, a nice number; there are now 435. 66 seats out of 501 is about 13% of the total. Spain would control the outcome of most Congressional votes. As for Presidential elections, Spain would be the biggest single prize with its 68 electoral votes out of 603, more than 10%. Since Spaniards tend to be more leftist than Americans, most of them would be attracted to the Democrat Party; the Socialists and the Dems would join up together and the PP would probably join the Republicans, moving the Reps toward the left as well. The 2000 election wouldn't have been at all close; Gore would have won in a landslide if Spain had been a state. Spain would be the single biggest source of political power and it might not be too long before a Spaniard got to be President; in addition, they'd move the United States to the left politically, which they'd obviously like to see.

Are there any disadvantages? Spain would probably receive a whole bunch of federal aid, more than they currently get from the UE, because it would be by far the poorest state; per capita income here is about $17,000, while Mississippi's (the poorest state now) is over $20,000 and Connecticut's is above $40,000. Probably not too many of the current laws would have to be changed. Hell, Louisiana's legal system is weird enough; Spain's is probably sensible compared to Louisiana's. Language shouldn't be a problem, since New Mexico is already officially bilingual; there'd be no reason why Spain's four languages couldn't continue being official, though they'd probably have to make English co-official. As for going out and getting into wars, there's no compulsory military service so no one who didn't volunteer would have to go fight. They wouldn't have to adopt the death penalty; there are still 12 or 15 states that don't have it, and it looks like a few states might even go back to illegalizing it.

On the whole, it looks like a pretty good deal for Spain, and the consequences for the United States would be profound. That's why I vote we don't let them in even if they want to join. Which they don't, thank God.