Puerto Rico’s status lies in the hands of Congress

The Hill ^ | 2/01/2006 | Oxford Analytica

[cll]

"but they will pay taxes like the rest of us."

Okay. Contact your Congressman and ask them to end this disparity once and for all. That's the whole point.

[cll]

Much of it sounds to what they said when the Italians started migrating to the U.S.

[I'm ALL Right!]

I agree with you. PR deserves statehood...but where would we put the star? ;)

[cll]

There are already several designs. One is in my profile. It is not my favorite, though.

[green iguana]

where would we put the star?

I know it was a joke, but: 9,8,9,8,9,8

[DM1]

lets just cut them off
let them be independent that way we wont have to subisidize their existence

[cll]

I constantly ask this question here in FR and never get an answer:

How exactly do you propose to cut off four million Americans? Like in a Stalinist purge?

[Clemenza]

Facts:

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.

[snowman1]

THEY GET A HELL OF A LOT LESS THAN WE DOLE OUT TO PEOPLE THAT HATE US.

[cll]

"significant minority of people opposed to any links with the United States, they will be a
constant and intense irritant to the political process."

Well, you in the mainland have close to half of your population consisting of characters like democrats, the ANSWER crowd, greenies and similar assortment of lefties, which are a constant and intense irritant to the political process already.

[puroresu]

Make Puerto Rico a state and we have two more leftist Senators and several more leftist House members. Plus additional electoral votes for the Democrats in the presidential election. It'll be like adding a larger District of Columbia.

[Clemenza]

1. Italians were Europeans*, who intermarried after the second generation into the general population. Puerto Ricans have never done so in large numbers on the mainland. (*Not that race matters anymore, as seen by the high intermarriage rate of Filipinos, Chinese, and even Mexicans after two generations in the country. Just saying that, at the time (1920s), such issues DID matter. Nevertheless, the lack of intermarriage says something about the adaptability of PR's inhabitants to the U.S.).

2. The folks were right to be concerned about the assimilation of Poles, Italians, Jews, Hungarians, etc. into the U.S., which is why we passed strict immigration laws in the 1920s.

3. I myself have never really cared too much about the cultural/racial aspects of PR statehood (aside from the languague and education issues). I am MOST CONCERNED with the fact that too much of the population is dependent on transfer payments and government employment for its livelihood.

As I have said several times, I believe that PR would be better off maintaining commonwealth status, and that American would be better off with independence. HOWEVER, if PR voted to become a state, I would welcome you with open arms, especially your sisters. ;-)

[AuH2ORepublican]

The 51-star flag does not look as nice as the 50-star flag (or the 48- or 49-star flags). But we wouldn't need a 51-star flag if we go straight to 52 by also admitting a "State of New Columbia" comprising Washington, DC and its close-in suburbs in Maryland and Virginia. Admitting New Columbia as a state would enfranchise the residents of DC while simultaneously making Virginia an overwhelmingly Republican state and making Maryland a GOP-leaning state. See http://auh2orepublican.blogspot.com/2005/08/fair-and-reasonable-alternative-to-dc.html

A 52 stars on the flag would be in 4 rows of 7 and 4 rows of 6, and would look like this:

* * * * * * *
* * * * * *
* * * * * * *
* * * * * *
* * * * * * *
* * * * * *
* * * * * * *
* * * * * *

Whis is not all that different from the 50-star flag:

* * * * * *
* * * * *
* * * * * *
* * * * *
* * * * * *
* * * * *
* * * * * *
* * * * *
* * * * * *

[DM1]

"How exactly do you propose to cut off four million Americans? Like in a Stalinist purge?"
lol pretty funny you have too much coffee or something?
allow me to clarify here - these guys pay no income tax (though i do think they pay Social Security), booted out our Naval testing site and complain that we keep them down. They want all benefits and no sacrifices of being within the US. They vote on same status everytime because there are three choices either become a state, become independent, or stay the same. Take it to a plebiscite and make two distinct choices - put up or shut up - either statehood or independence.

[Chode]

cut that POS lose, rename it New-Haiti and be done with it...

[Dane]

Actually a Republican won the island wide election to be the delegate from Puerto Rico in the US House.

Luis Fortuno

[AuH2ORepublican]

OK, my formating skills leave a lot to be desired. But the 52-star flag looks fine.

[Clemenza]

New Columbia would be interesting, but I would welcome the State of Alberta as well, IF they decided to join us. More oil please!

[cll]

"HOWEVER, if PR voted to become a state, I would welcome you with open arms, especially your sisters. ;-)"

Thanks for that, really. I would just like to add:

Has it occured to anybody that the reason for our less than desirable demographics might be because the current system, ELA or commonwealth is broken? A system designed during the FDR/Truman era. If it ever worked at all.

[Clemenza]

Bootstrap was largely a failure that all of the drug making factories could not hide.