Plebiscite Summarized –.

It seems that the matter is rather cut and dried -> in 1959 there was an election, 94% voted in favor of statehood, and the U.N. correctly recognized the plebiscite as binding and removed Hawaii from the non-self governing territories list. To imply some sort of conspiracy, however lightly the implication is made, is a disservice to the native Hawaiians who fought long and hard for Statehood. Prince Kuhio, who fought in the failed 1895 counter-revolution against the Republic of Hawaii, someone who could be truly called a patriotic subject of the Kingdom of Hawaii, someone who risked life and limb for his convictions, saw Statehood as a prime goal of his political career in the Territory of Hawaii. Although there were certainly fringe voices in the community in 1959 that decried statehood, the vast majority, as evidenced by the representative ballot (note, we don’t live in a direct democracy, we have a republic with some democratic traditions), were strongly in favor of statehood…and had been for over 60 years.

As a State of the Union, from 1959 on we have had universal suffrage for everyone 18 and over, and if there was any real political impulse on the part of the people of Hawaii to secede, it would have presented itself through the electorate. This is simply not the case, of course.

I guess the real question is this -> take the conspiracy at face value, let us imagine for a moment that there was some back door deal at the U.N. -> what possible remedy could anyone suggest? The people of the State of Hawaii are the same people who were a part of the Territory of Hawaii, and the same people who were part of the Republic of Hawaii, and the Kingdom of Hawaii before that. Would we have another referendum, to dot the legal i’s and cross the legal t’s? Or do the people framing these questions believe that the sovereignty of the multi-racial citizens of the State of Hawaii should be subject to the whims of radical royalists and race-based sovereignty activists?

Certainly interesting history, but I wonder what the ulterior motive is.

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