US considers annexing Baja for better symmetry

The United States government recently announced a plan that would call for peacefully annexing the Baja peninsula of Mexico. The administration has cited geographical symmetry as the main reason for a possible annexation of the mostly desert landscape and has therefore named the plan the Symmetry Act.

Advisers to Obama argue that if one were to fold the United States in half, roughly down the Mississippi River, that having two peninsulas at either end would be "much more pleasing on the eye."

"It makes sense because in the east we have this long peninsula of Florida and in the west there is the Baja ... just sitting there," said USGS peninsula specialist, Ty Culligan. "Also, I think Floridians have felt strange being the only true peninsula dwellers of the US."

Obama also points to the fact that children learning geography will make better maps and have an easier time learning states. A recent Cooper-Sinclair study revealed that almost 73% of our nations 4th graders felt Baja was already a part of America and was often included in crayon map drawings.

The Baja peninsula is made up of two Mexican states: Baja California and Baja California Sur. The rugged terrain extends nearly 800 miles from the Mexican-US border in the north to Cabo San Lucas in the south. It is sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean to the west and Gulf of California to the east. It is often called the "greatest peninsula of the world" by Peninsula Weekly.

Mexican officials who at first were threatened by a sizable loss in their overall land area, admitted that "having two large peninsulas framing a country would be neat."

Most Mexican officials in favor of the plan are calling for Cabo San Lucas, the resort town at the peninsula's most southern tip, to remain part of Mexico. The town's large number of dollar-toting tourists are a huge boost to the Mexican economy.

Others inside the government are appalled at the consideration of giving land to the US, while some even predicted the arrival of this request years ago.

"I knew this day would come," said Mexican official and Baja California Sur representative, Jose Montenerro. "This is why I proposed filling in the Gulf of California almost ten years ago."

Montenerro proposed a top secret plan in February of 1998 calling for the elimination of the body of water that separates Baja from mainland Mexico. The official was ahead of his time when he foresaw what the attraction of geographical symmetry for the neighbors to the north would mean to his country and literally called for the moving of mountains to prevent it.

A revised plan, also top secret, presented by Montenerro in 2000 called for constructing a 125-mile land bridge between La Ribera (the end of Baja) and Altata (the Mexican mainland) to alter the definition of the strip of land. Both plans, obviously were nixed.

"The International Federation of Peninsulas (IFP) would have stripped Baja of its peninsula status," said Montenerro. "Baja would have been worthless to the US."

Both Obama and Mexican president Felipe Calderon have assured citizens in both countries that nothing is set in stone as of now. The two are planning an August meeting in San Francisquito, Baja to discuss the details of the Symmetry Act.