Well, one problem in Quebec is that there’s no Conservative Party, one reason Charest had no choice but to switch parties in order to assume a leadership position at the provincial level. The Canadian provincial vs. federal system is a bit byzantine, anyhow.
PR is really the only locale in the U.S. that doesn’t have officeholders formally aligned with the “D” or “R” parties on the ballot, though most will declare their preferences for which mainland party Presidential candidates they’d support (although Nebraska’s unicameral legislature is probably another — all win on a “non partisan” ticket, though most folks can discern which pols tend to be aligned with one party or another).
Even if race or language became a non-issue there, the fact that admitting a state with an incredibly low per capita income is just a plain bad idea. Welfare would become (if it already isn’t) the preeminent issue. PR would become the poorest state in the nation, making Mississippi look rich by comparison.
But even getting back to language, though it isn’t equal to Quebec in Canada, PQ should be a warning when you have a “distinct culture” separate and apart from the majority. It may be cute and quaint, but it causes too many problems. Instead of buckling to the Francophones, back in the 19th century, Ottawa should’ve set a timetable to anglicize Quebec. In failing to do so, Canada as a whole was weakened, because they bend over backwards to accommodate and patronize an ethnic minority at the expense of the majority, while the ethnic minority is not expected to show similar courtesy to the ethnic majority (prime example is how the English-speaking provinces must accommodate Francophones... but as soon as you’re in Quebec, you might as well be in France, because not even road signs are in English).
If the USA had allowed such measures with its individual states, we’d have had a nightmare scenario. Imagine a French Louisiana, Rhode Island & Maine, Gaelic Massachusetts, Swedish Delaware, Dutch New York, German Pennsylvania, Spanish Florida & Texas, Russian Alaska, et al.
Although I have respect for our fellow FReepers who favor admittance and would personally be happy to assimilate and become a part of the mainland GOP as Conservatives, personally, I think either status quo or independence is the way to go. Let Puerto Ricans be in charge of their own destiny and not yield to the morass and statism of DC. Same goes for my opinion of Hawaii. They should be cut loose as well, as they’ve demonstrated with their elected officials to be quite supportive of ultra-radical leftist politics and help to maintain the disastrous status quo in DC via their 2 execrable Senators.
I’ve been surprised that Harper hasn’t been able to make much headway with the Anglophones in the Montreal area. They are sticking with Liberals federally. He ran a star candidate in a majority English-speaking seat. Close 3-way race but he came in third. A Jewish Conservative did very well in another seat (a former liberal stronghold once held by Trudeau himself) but he lost by 6 points.
If I were him I’d be begging for the province to leave, he would have had a majority after the 2008 election, less Quebec.
Ditto with Scotland leaving the UK, Cameron is the Union’s most ardent defender, get rid of the Labour heavy Scottish MPs and the Conservatives have a slight majority right now I believe. Sure their are drawbacks to losing Scotland but...so what.
It would be like if Hawaii was really serious about leaving the US and the GOP were the ones to most strongly oppose it, nuts.
Separation!!!