Puerto Rico Ping! Please Freepmail me if you want on or off the list.
Posted on 04/30/2015 8:21:30 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
‘Puerto Rican citizens — U.S. citizens — ought to have the right to determine whether they want to be a state,” Jeb Bush said this week. But they have had the right to determine that several times, and they seem to have determined the answer: No. The former Florida governor also said he thought statehood was a good idea on the merits, which it plainly is not.
The most recent occasion for Puerto Ricans to weigh in was 2012, when they technically did end up voting for statehood — in a ballot process that would make Vladimir Putin blush. Voters were first asked whether they supported Puerto Rico’s current relationship with the U.S., as a commonwealth. They disapproved of their current status, 54–46, a margin that can be in large part explained by the small but non-negligible share of Puerto Ricans who want complete independence. The second question offered three choices for the new status — independence, a new unclear form of “free association,” or statehood — and only 44 percent of all voters chose statehood. But because more than half a million voters skipped the second question entirely, as the effort’s opponents had encouraged, a majority of voters who answered the question picked statehood.
That is the nearest Puerto Ricans have come to asking to be a state, after decades in which the island’s political and business elite, Democrats in Congress, and some Republicans have pushed for the idea. In three previous referenda (1967, 1993, and 1998), statehood was voted down outright.
Contrast this with the process by which Hawaii and Alaska joined the union: Voters in the former gave 94 percent support to statehood in a 1959 referendum, while the people of the latter voted for statehood 58–42 in 1946, and then 83–17 in 1958.
Bush, like some congressmen, says Puerto Rico should have a new up-or-down plebiscite, but even if this would yield a new result, it would be reckless. In any referendum, permanent change of status should hinge on some supermajority level of support, as, say, constitutional amendments do. We do not want ambivalent states.
If Puerto Rico became a state, its economy and culture would be incredible outliers: It is twice as poor as the poorest of the 50 states, and it would of course be the first Spanish-speaking one. Statehood would remove some of the competitive benefits the island currently enjoys — protection of the United States and its laws without paying income taxes, for instance — in exchange for an inordinately generous welfare state. (One important economic policy exported from the mainland, the federal minimum wage, is believed to have had devastating effects.) The territory is currently stuck in a deep economic malaise, driving large numbers of residents to emigrate, but what it needs is structural reform, not statehood.
So what is Governor Bush thinking? In Washington, the issue has long been more of a Democratic cause — the state would be reliably blue — but some Republicans have warmed to the idea on political grounds, too, thinking it will win over Hispanic voters, especially the growing population of Puerto Ricans in Florida. Bush surely believes what he said (his brother was sympathetic, too), but if this is a political ploy, it’s an unwise one.
Needless to say, trying to win over more Hispanic voters is a good idea. But it should be accomplished by pushing sound policies that appeal to broad swaths of working Americans, rather than offering tailored ethnic ploys. Especially not ones with lasting consequences for the structure of these United States.
Nope, sorry...Puerto Ricans have been FULL citizens since 1917...
Obama was thinking I had to those 7 Muslim states he hopes to add to the union.
His mother is a liberal idiot too.
Puerto Rico Ping! Please Freepmail me if you want on or off the list.
And so, Jeb "Propeller Beanie" Bush speaks again, but Archie Bonkers would not approve.
Combined PING! and DANG!
Mostly good points, but one implied one that I am uncomfortable with. PR has indeed had multiple chances to vote for statehood and the people have said no. That’s fine, it’s their choice. If they want in, it should be require a super majority of at least 60%.
That said I am not wild about NRO’s implied opposition to statehood on principal. We have owned PR since Teddy Roosevelt (the original neo-con) stole it from Spain (who had stolen it from its indigenous population) back in 1898. Since then the people of that island territory have enjoyed many, though not all of the privileges of being Americans. And more importantly, tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans have died fighting for this country. As far as I’m concerned, if and when they decide they want statehood, then they are in. The right to statehood has been bought and paid for by the blood of their people.
The other stuff is side issues that we can deal with if and when it becomes necessary.
Would be our poorest state (half the per-capita income of Mississippi) and the only one where English was not the predominant language. And would absolutely guarantee two Democrats in the Senate for all eternity.
Actually, we should re-invigorate the 10th Amendment, and repeal the 17th Amendment, and return the states to their constitutional level of autonomy.
I would welcome Puerto Rico on that basis.
There should only be two choices..Statehood or Independence
Having lived in Puerto Rico for several years ago, I know how the populace feels about Statehood. They love the idea, especially Puerto Rican Republicans, however on becoming a State they lose a relationship with the US government which would cost them dearly - mostly economically. They simply can’t afford the change regardless of much they like the idea. Of course the “independistas” want an independent nation but they could never muster more than 1% of a popular vote, no matter how much noise they make..
Jeb is a poorly informed goofball trying to find another way to pander to Hispanics.
But he needs to do a little research.
The majority of Puerto Ricans consistently say NO to proposals of statehood.
Here is one BIG reason:
Puerto Ricans are exempt from paying federal income taxes.
It is estimated that if they had to pay income taxes it would take about $2 billion a year out of their pockets.
Mexicans loathe Puerto Ricans. Cubans loathe Mexicans and Puerto Ricans, and are loathed in return. Colombians despise Venezuelans, vice versa and everyone else soused of the border. No one likes Argentines and you can forget about Brazil. Bolivia? Don't ask a Peruvian about those ugly toads. Uruguay? Who cares about that bunch'o'spaghetti-benders. Central America: each país cacadero hates the others.
Astonishing as it may seem, each of our 'Sister Republics' seems to harbor some sort of racial animosity toward the people of the others.
So, Meester Boosh, joo may get the votes of Florida's mushrooming PR population, but lose the Cubans and the Mexicans. Statehood for Puerto Rico? Make more sense to make states of Baja California and Sonora.
Did you read the article?
Talk about angels dancing on the head of a pin. A distinction without a difference.
Yeah, let’s add more welfare states where they don’t speak English to the united states, maybe we can take Quebec from Canada too. I’m sure the rest of Canada sure as hell wouldn’t miss it.
I guess the Pro-Regressive left would LOVE to add more “defacto blue states” to the united states...
I wonder if this is the preliminary “groundwork” t5 counter the convention of the states movements.
If they can add enough states to make 3/4 of the states “Blue” then it will really be “Game over man, game over...”
Imagine if they could add “D.C.”, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, etc... as states....
Then they could steamroll over the entire midwest, and this would be seen as a prelude to a civil war.
” Make more sense to make states of Baja California and Sonora.”
Hey, don’t laugh, the Southern slavocracy actually wanted to do this over 150 years ago, with Cuba included.
Puerto Rico has never shown any inclination to be a productive state or become a full state within the Union
The Missouri Compromise, For every Slave State you Brought in a Free State.
Now for every Blue State you will need bring in a Red State until we reach a tipping point.
Since everyone is so willing to just hand out Citizenship to every Jose and Juan that comes across the border, why don't we had out Citizenship to our own People first? American Samoa has been a U.S. Possession longer than Guam, Puerto or any save D.C. and they are still only Nationals, NOT Citizens.
Guam and the C.N.M.I. could almost be Red States.....sorta....lot of Military.
But nor National Politics Puerto Rico, D.C. would all be Dark Blue.
[ If we do this, we will be repeating the era before the Civil War.
The Missouri Compromise, For every Slave State you Brought in a Free State.
Now for every Blue State you will need bring in a Red State until we reach a tipping point.
Since everyone is so willing to just hand out Citizenship to every Jose and Juan that comes across the border, why don’t we had out Citizenship to our own People first? American Samoa has been a U.S. Possession longer than Guam, Puerto or any save D.C. and they are still only Nationals, NOT Citizens.
Guam and the C.N.M.I. could almost be Red States.....sorta....lot of Military.
But nor National Politics Puerto Rico, D.C. would all be Dark Blue. ]
Excellent Point, Amazing how history rhymes!
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