Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message heresht or get off the pot.
i'm all in favor of statehood. I think that any place that want's to join, and can meet the criteria should petition for statehood.
Cut them loose, we don't need the additional handout seekers.
Puerto Rico ping.
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1. Make English the official language of the U.S., via a constitutional amendment.
2. Allowing Puerto Rico statehood if they agree to the above, and prove that they can survive without extensive transfer payments.
You know where I stand. If I were an inhabitant of PR, I would vote to maintain Commonwealth status. Get the best of both worlds that way. Between independence or statehood,however, I would choose independence, whether as a Boricua or, as I am, a gringo from the mainland.
I think that the great people of Puerto Rico deserve to become the wealthiest and most prosperous Latin American nation. Becoming instead the poorest and most culturally isolated American state makes little sense.
Give 'em independence.
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message hereQuestion: Does Puerto Rico pay income taxes?
What about all those special status drug companies in PR?
Where will the politcal money from their PAC's go?
lets just cut them off
let them be independent that way we wont have to subisidize their existence
31% of the population of Puerto Rico is employed in the public sector. That DOES NOT include police officers or civilian employees on military bases, that would bring that figure to close to 50%.
32.8% of personal income in Puerto Rico is attributable to TRANSFER PAYMENTS from Washington (ie welfare), as of 2003.
In 1989, Puerto Rico received 72 times more food stamps than Mississippi, half the island's population currently receives food stamps as of 2002.
cut that POS lose, rename it New-Haiti and be done with it...Does Puerto Rico produce anything?
Why is the U.S. Hanging on to it if there is no benefit to us?
This is a false premise.
Puerto Rico has three choices: Petition for statehood, or petition for independence, or remain a Commonwealth. The first two require initiative action by Puerto Rico and approval by the United States. The third requires no action.
Neither statehood nor independence is a unilateral option. Both Puerto Rico and the United States must approve it.
In the case of statehood, Puerto Rico must convince the United States that it is advantageous to the United States to admit another state. So far I have seen no effort to do so.
In the case of independence, Puerto Rico must convince the United States that Puerto Rico is ready to stand on its own in the world community of sovereign states. So far I have seen no effort to do so.
What I have seen to date is only a lot of verbiage saying how good statehood would be for Puerto Rico. And that just doesn't cut it.
Neither statehood nor independence is a right. It must be earned.
If politics didn't matter, I'd be happy to see PR choose statehood or independance. But they do, and we don't need more lib control in a near 50/50 Senate/House/Electoral College/Everything else, if PR becomes a state. Not right now anyways.
A dissenting minority opinion that flew in the face of practice and law going back to the original founders, signers and authors of the Constitution.