Opinion: Is Puerto Rican statehood the next “Latino” issue for conservatives?

NBC Latino ^ | 1/30/2013 | Juan Ricardo Varela

[cll]

With the Washington news cycle being dominated this week by a bipartisan comprehensive immigration framework that includes an earned path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, a group of conservative heavy hitters are trying to push another issue that affects over 3.5 million second-class U.S. citizens.

Yesterday morning at the National Press Club, the topic was Puerto Rican statehood, as the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles announced a new education campaign to convince fellow conservatives that making Puerto Rico the 51st state of the Union is the most American thing one can do. The LPCP rolled out an A list of guests, which included Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Luis Fortuño, the former Republican governor of Puerto Rico and one of the island’s most ardent pro-statehood supporters.

I spoke to Alfonso Aguilar, the LPCP’s Executive Director, after the conference. Now, I am not a pro-statehooder (read “Why Puerto Rico Will Never Become the 51st State”), but I do believe strongly that the U.S. should respect the island’s latest non-binding plebiscite. Even with my initial skepticism, as I talked more and more with Aguilar, I concluded that he was incredibly qualified to lead the conservative charge about Puerto Rico’s political status. Here are just some of his major points:

Puerto Ricans on the island are second-class U.S. citizens: “I’m passionately supportive of immigration reform, and I believe in giving a path to citizenship to undocumented immigrants. As we think of giving a path to citizenship to 11 million undocumented immigrants, I think it is fitting to remember that there are 3.7 million U.S. citizens on the island that don’t have full political rights. Puerto Ricans are not asking for citizenship. What they are asking for is a path for

[Impy]

Canadian politics is very interesting to me, I got really into it out of boredom a few years ago.

Nowadays I would say CAQ (and before it the ADQ) is the most conservative choice in Quebec. I wonder why the Liberals and CAQ didn’t form a coalition to keep the new PQ minority government out.

In BC Before the BC Liberals (which had been all but dead) took over the role the main center/right party in the province was the Social Credit party, which was originally formed to promote a weird lefty idea called, social credit.

In BC cause the new (not so new now) leader of the Liberal party is a federal liberal and a witch the old BC Conservative party that had been long been all but dead made a resurgence.

They’re numbers have dipped but in the latest poll they’re still taking 11% to the Liberals 33% and the NDP’s 43%.

[Impy]

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!!!

[Altura Ct.]

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