What ALASKANS Did…
Since his election in November, President Donald Trump has called for Canada to become the 51st state of USA, and mocked the former Prime Minister–calling him GOVERNOR Justin Trudeau. A resulting grand discussion in social media considers whether disenfranchised Canadians should split from Canada one way or another.
Some Canadians Aspire for Independence. Others want the Promise of America. This is the HOPE of Canadian Statehood.
Some Alaskans have aspired for Independence.
Filipinos fought USA for their Independence!
Philippines today is under constant assault by China and has a mutual protection pact with USA.
Canada is at a fork in the road.
[1] How USA Exploited Philippines’ Wish for Independence, DONN LISTON June 6, 2023
(Live links are in References.)
Distance from USA between AK & PH Colonies Made a Difference
Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau recently resigned after nine years of feckless liberal governance, doing great damage to Canada, from the national capital of Ottawa. Many Western Canadians are looking at the indignities they have endured from Eastern CA Political lunacy and now weigh their options as Trudeau’s replacement Mark Carney was installed as Prime Minister–just as President Joe Biden’s proposed replacement Kamala Harris was installed by Democrat /Communists–to run as president in the last USA election.
Warning: Donny’s sense of humor is similar to Donald Trump’s. As a disenfranchised Alaskan-in-exile, Liston has always had a hard time taking Canadians seriously about much of anything. They are Alaska’s quirky neighbors.
However, Donny should have taken Georgia scammers, Bill, Brenda and Waneta Borden dba High Caliber Realty, Inc. (sic) more seriously because Alaska Courts do not care about accomplished Alaskans scammed at the darkest time of their lives by sleazy Outsiders.
This saga provides a backdrop to my website describing decline of Alaska since statehood.
[2] Food Security Scam Hurts Alaskans, DONN LISTON October 16, 2024
When I knew I had to leave Lawless Alaska in the face of threats to my life KNOWN TO THE COURT from Scammer Bordens, I also knew Canada was not an option for safety. Canada has been in the same political death spiral as USA for more than a decade.
The HOPE of Canadian Statehood
Without Protection from Criminals under Alaska Law, harmed persons MUST Document and Publish wrongdoing for the Court of Public Opinion. Truth is the Defense for Slander and Liston may still go to Federal Court.
From a previous story:
Liston sought justice in AK Small Claims Court against Bill Borden for documented damage to his business, DONN LISTON COMPANY and HIS home. Bill’s response was incredible-he sent to the court Revenge Porn he had stolen upon breaking into Liston’s home, stealing multiple items outright, and hacking his computer. These stolen photos of naked consenting adults including Liston were prima facia evidence Bill had committed this crime! There is no other way Bordens could have gotten these private photos except by breaking, unlawfully entering, and theft.
Newly appointed Dunleavy Superior Court Judge David A. Nesbett didn’t care.
Shouldn’t ANY JUDGE be able to see this?
Not in the State of Alaska court system! It’s just another agency of government workers in AK Bureaucracy trying to make retirement and go home.
[3] How Scammers Prey on the Elderly, DONN LISTON June 27, 2024
Look what USA Courts do to Trump!
Alberta Will Not Experience Continued Resource Exploitation as a State of USA. This is the HOPE of Canadian Statehood
New Hope for Canadians
[4] Link to Liz Grade Information in References
Liz Grade is one candidate for Prime Minister from Ottawa if Parliament is reconvened after being arbitrarily shut down by the last administration. Imagine if the US Senate President shut down the body before an election until a time to be announced. This is Canada’s subservient Parliamentary goat-rope system.
Becoming a state would mean Parliament likely becomes a Legislature. Other candidates are also seeking to bring sanity back to Canadian governance.
It Has NOT Been Easy Lately for Philippines, Either
Donny has also personally explored through many published stories the difference between Alaska’s decline into what is now a third-rate state compared to ascension of Independent First-World Philippines, ruled by the son of a former PH Dictator.
From a previous story:
The February 25th People Power Anniversary is a nationwide annual observance and school holiday in the Philippines. This event still holds a special place in the hearts of many Filipinos who remember a revolution that restored democracy to Philippines in 1986.
[5] Philippine People Power, DONN LISTON February 18, 2024
Close Proximity to USA
Western Canada pays the bills and Eastern Canada is dependent. This condition is nothing new but modern policies have caused a backlash—particularly in Alberta.
Eastern elites have insisted on use of the French Language and placed outrageous tariffs on certain items such as milk from USA. Canadian Provinces place tariffs on trade between each other, too! Alaskans have always regarded Canadian tariffs to be charity for an Economically Developing Country, but since Pres. Trump has recently proposed tariffs on Canada some have thrown a fit like children—even threatening to join the European Union!
Alaskans are not surprised at this neighbor’s petulance as Americans have watched this Top-Down Parliamentary government serve Great Britain since the Revolutionary War–when Loyalists ran to Canada while Patriots whipped the most powerful force on the planet–using mostly squirrel guns and guerrilla tactics. US Draft dodgers also ran to Canada during Pres. Lyndon Johnson’s Vietnam War.
USA has Been the Patient Parent Long Enough
Alaskans are Experiencing A Similar Rage
AK Elected officials seem oblivious to long-term Alaskans’ rage. I have personally witnessed the poor governance in Alaska from the population center of Southcentral Alaska AND from the political enclave of Juneau. Alaska doesn’t attract the best and brightest, and given the decline of the state at so many levels, many people have just given up and moved out. Population growth rate is stagnant and many businesses were lost during Gov. Michael Dunleavy’s Covid lockdowns in our broken healthcare system.
Some are ashamed for our state.
From a previous story:
Some readers might recall Alaska was in a crime crisis from laws changed in 2016 from those set during the early pipeline days–when criminal behavior from the Oil Rush caused rational people to decide we will not tolerate lawlessness.
As a state we were broke but we had traditional frontier values and hope for a bright future.
[6] Juneau’s Influence on Alaska Lawmakers, DONN LISTON May 1, 2018
Many of us also remember well when Alaskans voted in recurring elections to move the State Capital from the grips of Seattle.
Today Alaska Remains Seattle’s Bitch
From this previous story:
Land disposals, homestead subdivisions, and completion of the George Parks Highway in 1972 fueled growth in the (Willow) area. The capital move initiative expanded Willow’s population and caused land speculation, but funding for moving the capital was ultimately defeated in the November 1982 election.
That is why the Capital never relocated, Southeast Alaska interests rallied and some elsewhere lost faith.
[7] Alaska’s Capital Move Efforts: O Ye, of Little Faith, DONN LISTON January 27, 2019
Lead-Up to The Constitutional Convention
Tangible final steps toward Alaska Statehood began in 1955, but a lot had to happen before that. The Territorial Legislature was a creation of the Second Organic Act of Congress, passed in 1912. This act allowed five things the legislature COULD do and forbade the passage of laws in 17 other realms, including divorce, game, fish, roads, insane persons, or disposal of land. The legislative body met every two years for no more than 60 days at a time.
Canada was not part of the discussion nor a consideration for Alaskans. The Canadian government had imposed difficult requirements for Gold Rush Argonauts coming in from Yukon Territories over the Dawson trail. To some statehood seemed to be a good idea but other Alaskans chafed at so much congressional involvement in state affairs.
[8] Alaska’s Heritage, Alaskans and the United States, Antonson and Hannable, P-279
A movement was organized. The strongest voices of statehood at this critical time were Ernest Gruening and Edward Lewis “Bob” Bartlett.
Gruening had received his Medical Doctor degree from Harvard University in 1912, but instead of practicing medicine pursued a career in journalism. As a writer, he became noticed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and his service as an advisor led to an invitation to become a permanent member of Roosevelt’s New Deal Administration. Gruening was appointed in 1934 to be the first director of the Division of Territories and Island Possessions in the Department of Interior, which was established by presidential executive order.
Ultimately Gruening was appointed Governor of the Territory of Alaska. He came to Alaska determined to make something out of the Territory.
[9] 49 At Last! The Battle for Alaska Statehood, Nast, Claus-M, Epicenter Press, 3rd Addition 2009, p 90
A younger contemporary of Gruening, Bartlett was the son of Klondike pioneers. He was born in Seattle and grew up in Fairbanks. He, too, was a journalist—reporter for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner—from 1927 to 1933. Bartlett was appointed Secretary of Alaska, a position equivalent to Lt. Governor, by President Roosevelt. Bartlett resigned in February 1944 to become a candidate for the Congressional delegate of Alaska.
These two had contrasting personalities: Gruening was forceful and determined while Bartlett was quiet and persuasive. They formed a lasting friendship and complementary working relationship. While the governor soon polarized Alaskan politics into pro and anti-Gruening camps, by the sheer force of his personality, Bartlett widened acquaintances among all elements of the territory’s population and built political goodwill.
[10] Annual Report of the Governor of Alaska (1943), pp. 1-5; William R. Carter, “The Sixteenth Alaska Legislature: A Report to the People,” in Gong. Record, 78 Cong., 1 Sess., pp. 8226-27 (October 12, 1943)
The statehood movement soon developed into a crusade under the leadership of these two men. Before this, the movement had ebbed and flowed, but they gave it vitality and dynamism. Gruening promoted statehood on a broad front speaking all over the nation and writing about Alaska statehood everywhere. He clearly defined the devils as “outside” interests. Bartlett was not as flamboyant as Gruening, but he was just as tenacious, primarily in the halls of Congress as Alaska’s non-voting Delegate. Against advice from seasoned political advisors, Bartlett ran on a statehood platform in the Democratic primary of 1944 and went on to win the general election by 7,255 to 3,763 over Republican John E. Manders.
Alaska gained national prominence by its strategic and tactical participation in World War II. In the face of a prevailing mood of optimism after the war, and our place as U.S. Air Force Top Cover for America, the Alaska House of Representatives sent a memorial to the US Congress seeking the opportunity to have control over the territory’s destiny as had been proclaimed in Pres. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms declaration of the Atlantic Charter. This pact between the United States and Great Britain set out a vision for the postwar world. It stated that small nations and minorities had a right to choose their form of government and have control over their destinies.
[11] FDR Four Freedoms Declaration
Following a request to admit Alaska as the 49th state, Gov. Gruening asked lawmakers to establish provisions for a referendum on the statehood question—with a vote to be taken in 1946. Gruening also knew Congress could not be expected to act on such a request without a loud call of support for it from Alaskans.
Canada, too, will have to rally for the opportunity to become part of the most powerful nation on earth. I believe it has begun with Alberta already. Western Canada will be a good addition to USA.
The Alaska Push
Alaskan statehood supporters now had their job cut out for them. This was a job for a strong woman!
Mrs. Evangeline Atwood, the wife of Publisher Bob Atwood, of the Anchorage Daily Times, stepped up to lead the charge by organizing a nonpartisan, nonprofit, territory-wide Alaska Statehood Association. It took a while to get rolling, but soon chapters were formed in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, Wrangell, Palmer, Valdez, Kodiak, and Seward. Mrs. Atwood was a trained social worker, all around do-gooder, as well as the sister of Elmer Rasmuson, Bank of Alaska President.
Their father, Edward, was Alaska’s Republican National Committeeman.
George Sundborg (1913-2009) was a reporter and editorial writer for the Daily Alaska Empire in Juneau. He was hired, with Gov. Gruening’s blessing, to prepare a study of Alaska for use in making a case for statehood. While statehood forces were organizing their campaign, Congress reassembled in 1946. In his State of the Union message in January of that year, President Harry Truman recommended that the territory be admitted as soon as the wishes of Alaskans had been determined. Sundborg’s statehood report was printed and distributed throughout the state and caused Alaskans to focus on the reasons why Alaska should gain statehood. Of the 56 pages in the report, only five considered arguments against statehood, but arguments for it were appealing, and most who went to the polls at the referendum understood the issue. Delegate Bartlett was re-elected by a vote of 11,516 to 4,822 votes, and statehood was approved by 9,630 to 6,822.
[11] George Sunborg Obituary
Alaska’s population at the 1940 census was 72,524. A turnout of 16,384 voters amounted to a respectable 23 percent of the total population interested in this issue.
Public hearings on a bill introduced into Congress by Delegate Bartlett on January 3, 1947, gained support on several fronts and many Alaskans flew to Washington D.C. to testify in favor of statehood. The argument against statehood was that Alaska wasn’t ready to take on the responsibilities inherent in statehood–particularly financial requirements. Charges by Territorial Senator Edward Coffey, an Anchorage Democrat, included the argument that the only people being heard were special interests while common Alaskans were not aware of what statehood meant to them. As a result, the House Subcommittee on Territories and Insular Possessions came to Alaska to see for itself and hear Alaskan’s views. From August 30 to September 12 the subcommittee heard testimony from 92 individuals at various Alaskan towns. Subcommittee members who had previously been skeptical of Alaska’s ability to finance the requirements of statehood came away recognizing the potential for modernizing Alaska’s tax system and increasing resource development for an economic base.
These hearings were vital because they focused the issue of Alaska statehood and placed it directly before Congress, but they weren’t enough. Land grant provisions proposed by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Interior were not acceptable to the committee, and a compromise was worked out. On April 14, 1948, a new statehood bill introduced by Delegate Bartlett was reported to the House, where it was bottled up in the Rules Committee despite a special message from President Truman. After all that had been done, Alaska Statehood died at the end of this Congress.
They had come a long way and Alaskans seeking statehood were still optimistic.
Bartlett’s bill had been discussed in several committees. The national press was giving considerable attention to Alaska and Hawaii statehood efforts. For the first time, hearings had been held in Congress on statehood, and a statehood measure had been approved unanimously by a committee of Congress.
Alaskans now knew well why they wanted statehood, and they were on a roll!
It’s Your Time to Lead, Alberta!
References:
[1] How USA Exploited Philippines’ Wish for Independence, DONN LISTON June 6, 2023
https://listondonn.ph/how-usa-exploited-philippines-wish-for-independence/
[2] Food Security Scam Hurts Alaskans, DONN LISTON October 16, 2024
https://donnliston.net/2024/10/food-security-scam-hurts-alaskans/
[3] How Scammers Prey on the Elderly, DONN LISTON June 27, 2024
https://listondonn.ph/how-scammers-prey-on-the-elderly/
[4] Link to Liz Grade:> https://x.com/grade_liz
[5] Philippine People Power, DONN LISTON February 18, 2024
https://donnliston.net/2024/02/philippine-people-power/
[6] Juneau’s Influence on Alaska Lawmakers, DONN LISTON May 1, 2018
https://donnliston.net/2023/03/legislative-skits-skewer-but-too/
[7] Alaska’s Capital Move Efforts: O Ye, of Little Faith, DONN LISTON January 27, 2019
https://donnliston.net/2019/01/alaskas-capital-move-efforts-o-ye-of/
[8] Alaska’s Heritage, Alaskans and the United States, Antonson, Joan M. and Hannable, William S. P 279
Description[Vol. 1] Unit 1. Natural history — unit 2. Human history, prehistory to 1724 — unit 3. Human history, 1725-1867 ; [vol. 2] Unit 4. Human history, 1867 to present. Includes bibliographical references and index
[9] Nast, Claus-M., 49 At Last! The Battle for Alaska Statehood, Epicenter Press, 3rd Edition 2009, p90.
https://www.amazon.com/49-Last-Fight-Alaska-Statehood/dp/1935347020
[10] Annual Report of the Governor of Alaska (1943), pp. 1-5; William R. Carter, “The Sixteenth Alaska Legislature: A Report to the People,” in Gong. Record, 78 Cong., 1 Sess., pp. 8226-27 (October 12, 1943)
[11] FDR Four Freedoms Declaration, January 6, 1941
https://www.fdrlibrary.org/documents/356632/390886/readingcopy.pdf/42234a77-8127-4015-95af-bcf831db311d
[12]George Sundberg Obitutary
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/newsminer/name/george-sundborg-obituary?id=28562970
