Part of State Quarter Series, or it's own thing? To be, or not to be, that is the question

Ok, some of you have contacted me recently, and asked about me since I had not posted anything in a while. Tonight, you can see that I am on a bit of a roll. Ok, I am wired, and a bit hyper. It was just that kind of night.

So, I focused a little on my coins -- trying to plan some to purchase this weekend to fill some gaps in my Registry Sets, and also thought I would share some ideas that were racing through my mind in the wee hours of the morning.

So, I hear some sellers/dealers saying that the U.S. Territorial Quarters are VERY MUCH not part of the U.S. 50 State Quarter Program for the following reasons:

1. They are not states - sort of obvious, I'll give them that point, though not sure I agree with the conclusion.

2. They were not part of the coin series originally authorized by Congress, which was to run for 10 years, 5 coins per year.

3. They were therefore created under a separate Act of Congress to recognize six U.S. territories, including D.C.

My thoughts:

For all the 150,000,000 - 180,000,000 COLLECTORS in the U.S. alone who ended up getting into U.S. coin collecting, primarily because of the State Quarter program, how many of those do you think consider their collections complete after Alaska and Hawaii?

Is it me, or is the collection really incomplete unless it ALSO includes the six U.S. Territorial Quarters from 2009?

So, they are not states.

So, they weren't part of the ORIGINAL program.

What if a state had joined since the program started, that would have changed things, right? Is this SO different?

Or is it that some people may have some disdain for U.S. Territories (or some of them in particular), and thus the coins are guilty by association? It's probably a taboo subject, and I certainly don't want to start political warfare on these boards, so if you have any comments about this notion of mine, PLEASE EMAIL ME PRIVATELY!

Personally, I think some of the coins are quite nice, and I think that recognizing D.C. IN PARTICULAR is an important step in our history. So many people in DC are struggling with basic issues which were the foundations of the U.S. Revolutionary War, things like Taxation without Representation, little things like that. The rest of the country got that settled a couple hundred years ago.

Of course, the founders of the federal district didn't foresee a population as significant as it is living in D.C., yet there they are.

Other territories, of course, have different tax status issues, which is a different issue altogether, and not something to address on a coin message board.

However, my point is this: Aren't we ALL America, aren't we ALL Americans?

What coin collection (for those who collected State Quarters anyway) will be complete without the U.S. Territories.

How are sales going? Lagging? Pricing for them?

Has anyone seen them certified and the going rate? I'd be curious to hear how they compare to their State Quarter cousins/brethren.

NOTE: Image of DC Quarter courtesy of USMINT.gov web site