Posted on 03/14/2005 5:37:08 AM PST by cll
WASHINGTON, March 12 : Del.Luis Fortuno, R-Puerto Rico, recently visited Walter Reed Army Medical Center and met with wounded Puerto Rican soldiers. Soldiers who, while courageous enough to die for their country, Fortuno said, could not vote for president.
"It was difficult for me to look them in the eye," he said."This is morally wrong in the 21st century."
Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, meaning its citizens pay no federal income tax, cannot vote for president, but can serve in the military. And while Fortuno, 45, does represent Puerto Rico in Congress, he is only able to vote in a committee and not on actual House legislation.
Despite his non-voting status, the Republican Party pushed hard for Fortuno's election. The GOP picked Fortuno to speak at the Republican National Convention, assuming he could inspire the morally conservative Latino base to go to the polls.
The conservatives turned out in Puerto Rico for the 2004 elections as well. Fortuno is the second Republican to hold the Puerto Rican seat in Congress since its creation. The first was Federico Degetau, who was elected in 1901.
"The electors in Puerto Rico are now a lot more conservative than most people think," said Fortuno."I focused on lower taxes and pro-family policies. (Those) were the winners."
Even if that's the case, his policies won by a smaller margin than he would have liked. Fortuno election was determined by less than one-half of a percent of the vote.
Despite a split in the Puerto Rico's ideology, Fortuno is hopeful for unity.
"I have to show that indeed there is more that unites us than divides us," Fortuno said. "We can focus on our differences at times, but at the end of the day we're all Americans."
Fortuno also has his eye on other political issues, namely Social Security. Puerto Ricans are full participants in the United States Social Security program and Fortuno plans to stay fully briefed on the reform process.
"Sticking your head in the sand won't solve anything," Fortuno said. "I don't want to wait around 13 years for a major problem to hit."
Ensuring the future of Social Security is not just a political issue for Fortuno, but a moral one as well.
"You have to take care of those who came before you," he said. "There is a lot to be learned from them."
Fortuno applies this value to his family life, often taking his three children to visit their extended family and grandparents on the weekends. Fortuno and his wife Luce have triplets.
"Now that I travel (from Washington to Puerto Rico), it's difficult, but we make the time when we can," Fortuno said.
According to Fortuno, taking the effort to spend time with his children is the most important thing he can do as a father. When he was living in Puerto Rico, he drove his children to school every morning, his wife picked them up after school, and they all ate dinner together. He plans on resuming this tradition when his family moves to Washington at the end of the school year.
"Even though our children are now 13, we still put them to bed and pray with them," Fortuno said. "It gives them a frame of reference."
Puerto Ricans have chosen their lot, over and over again.
They have rejectd Statehood and Independence, while choosing to remain as they are.
They can't have their cake and eat it too.
BTW, the new Governor of PR is bvery anti-Bush, whining about the Iraq war, etc.
if i recall correctly, they have rejected statehood twice
At any rate, my take on Puerto Rico is that they have all the advantages of American Citizens, without the obligations, like PAYING INCOME TAXES!. Sounds like a good deal to me.
What Rep Fortuno should do is to agitate for Puerto Rico to become the 51st state, get all the Puerto Ricans into the "system"...then he won't have to be ashamed to look the brave Pureto Rican soldiers "in the eye".
We have not rejected anything. Puerto Rico falls under the territorial clause of the Constitution. That means that any status change has to be moved forward and approved by Congress, who has absolute control of the territory (property) of the United States. The referenda held over the years have been all locally produced and mean nothing. They mean nothing because the alternatives have always been watered down by the very powerful lobby that profits the most from the current colonial condition. Watered down with implausible and unconstitutional alternatives. Witness the "free beer and barbeque" option of 1993 and the "none of the above" option of 1998.
This is about nothing less than a continuance of segregation under disguise. Four million American citizens are being governed without their consent. Our great nation came to being precisely because of the same condition. We are denying American citizens their full rights simply because of their place of residence. Before that was because of skin color. And before that was because of gender. And before that because of property ownership.
The fact remains that Congress governs the territories without their consent. And it is a shame that the self appointed guardians of democracy promote its growth around the world but does not practice it fully here at home.
"The conservatives turned out in Puerto Rico for the 2004 elections as well. Fortuno is the second Republican to hold the Puerto Rican seat in Congress since its creation. The first was Federico Degetau, who was elected in 1901."
We were in SanJuan on our honeymoon-the place stinks to high heaven, the people are lazy, they brag about the money the USA sends them, they take no responsibility for their actions.
Our tour bus struck a stop sign and sideswiped a parked car trying to turn a corner. NEVER stopped. Puerto Ricans historically have always handed themselves over to whoever would pay the most for the resulting tourist trade.
Its the perfect example of a welfare state and they like it that way. Sell them to Cuba and pay off the nat'l debt.
Congress approved a referendum held in PR, and the PR's CHOSE to remain a territory.
There have been several votes, and PR's have never chosen Independence or Statehood.
If you're for Independence, you're in a tiny minority, and if you're for Statehood, you're still in the minority.
Please cite me the act of Congress that approved such referendum. I am CERTAIN, you will not find one.
As in anything, your perspective has to be framed by a period of history. A specific timeline. So if I said that I visited New York City in 1899, I could say the same thing your saying about New Yorkers.
Your perspective is miopic, ill-intended and does not reflect well on your character.
At any rate, I refuse to comment further on your prejudiced opinion, Misis.
Heck, I remember watching the vote on CSPAN and it passed by one. The gallery exploded in applause, and the chair had to spend several minutes calming them down.
Point is, the PR's have had a chance to officially express their wishes on their future, and they ALWAYS choose the status quo.
You're talking about Don Young's (R-Alaska) Puerto Rico Self Determination Act. The same bill did not pass in the Senate, therefore was never signed into law so nothing happened.
As to choosing the status quo in local referenda, it received less than 1% in the 1998 plesbicite because the commonwealth/territory "supporters" watered the vote down with and campaigned for the "none of the above" option. In 1993 the "status quo" people put forward the unconstitutional "free beer and barbeque" option, again to water down the process.
So I ask that you return your focus to my government without the consent of the governed argument. The local referenda have been mere straw polls and mean nothing.
3, 4 votes in the 1990's, and status quo won each time.
If the 3, 4% of pro Independence Puerto Ricans think they can throw out the US and our money via arms, let them try.
Personally, I could not care less.
"Personally, I could not care less"
Then why do you bother with this thread, Guillo?
"I could not care less" what the PR's choose as their status.
"They have rejectd Statehood and Independence, while choosing to remain as they are."
Amen!
My character, tho not flawless, is absolutely fine, I am not ill, and do not suffer from Miopia. I still put rum in Coke (cola) and I would love for the general PR population to prove me wrong. You, however, are the one who is prejudice for calling me prejudice. You must be a Skerry voter.
to serve in the US military, you have to have at least a green card.
"the people are lazy, they brag about the money the USA sends them, they take no responsibility for their actions."
Well, ma'am, the prejudice red flag is raised by the above generalization of your authorship. I live in Puerto Rico, and have completed a 22-year military career, am a business executive, in addition to operating a small business on the side. So, I'm a Puerto Rican, who lives in Puerto Rico and lazy I am not. Most if not all the people around me are like that. Tourism is only the six largest industry on the island, but I know for a fact that it is run by very professional and capable individuals. So your observations are patently false and mean-spirited and based on a single event. Drop me a line and I'll refer you to a good tour operator the next time you venture down here. If your honeymoon was more than 20 years ago I can assure you that you'll be impressed by how far we've come along in that short period.
And since I live on the island there is no way I would have voted for Kerry, even if I wanted to, which I didn't.
So all I ask of you and people like you is to stop shooting from the hip, give us your fellow Americans in the territories some slack, and realize that this disenfranchisement and discrimination against millions of citizens of the United States of America must end. 107 years is too much.
Thanks....
Just a small correction to the article re: Fortuño. The comment is made that residents of Puerto Rico "don't pay federal taxes". that statement is not altogether correct. Residents of Puerto Rico who work for the federal government pay federal taxes. Also, residents of the island who DON'T work for the federal government, don't pay federal INCOME tax. They do pay various other federal taxes, however, such as the social security tax, unemployment tax, etc.
I'm not sure if these numbers are right,m becouse I don't have the documents in front of me now, but the relative proportions are correct (in other words, we can change the numbers, but the relationship of one to another will remain the same).
It has been estimated that residents of Puerto Rico, if the island is admitted as a state, would pay about $2.2 billion in diverse federal taxes. Of these, approximately $1.8 billion are already being paid. So the "incremental tax burden" for the new state would not be that significant.
Of course, we are not discussing here whether the federal tax structure, as it exists, and current spending policies, are fair or even appropriate. That is a separate issue. I'm sure if various federal "sink-hole" programs were to be eliminated, the tax burden on ALL american citizens would be justifiably reduced.
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