Posted on 01/02/2017 10:51:02 AM PST by Olog-hai
Puerto Rico’s new governor was sworn in Monday, promising an immediate push for statehood in a territory facing a deep economic crisis.
Gov. Ricardo Rossello, 37, proposed several measures aimed at alleviating the crisis shortly after he was sworn in at midnight. Among them is a proposal to hold a referendum that would ask voters whether they prefer statehood or independence. Many have argued that Puerto Rico’s political status has contributed to its decade-long crisis that has prompted more than 200,000 people to flee to the U.S. mainland in recent years.
“The United States cannot pretend to be a model of democracy for the world while it discriminates against 3.5 million of its citizens in Puerto Rico, depriving them of their right to political, social and economic equality under the U.S. flag,” Rossello said in his inaugural speech, delivered in Spanish. “There is no way to overcome Puerto Rico’s crisis given its colonial condition.” …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
This new governor is a lying a-hole. Puerto Rico could have become a state at any time, they didn’t want to. Now that they are out of money they now try to shift the blame? A pox on their house.
Fine cut them lose and all future Puerto Ricans are NOT Americans. They are a protectorate and later a territory that came to us as a consequence of the Spanish American war, not really that much different from the Philippines and Guam during that time. They were never really part of the US culturally and have their own history. They are statutory citizens(granted by Congress), rather than Constitutional citizens as they were granted this status in 1917 under the Jones-Shafroth act. Therefore as they are not guaranteed Constitutional Citizenship they can be cut lose.
That's because the vast majority of Puerto Ricans aren't Americans, they're Democrats!
Puerto Rico would be a state which would be very different from any other state. Among those are a per capita income of only about half of the poorest states in the union. Another is that a majority of Puerto Ricans speak only Spanish.
Are there any positive benefits for the rest of us to admit PR as a state, rather than letting them go and be independent???
Cantor’s vote for statehood was the moment I decided to seek his removal from office.
The Congress has already set up the next referendum to be a two choice vote. Statehood or independence. No third option of staying like they are.
They will vote for statehood.
The Uniparty has already decided they will be the 51st state.
...and all the rum you can drink!
Yeah, two new Senators from Puerto Rico is just what we need.
We’d do better with two new Senators from the state of Jefferson.
I lived there for 18 months in the 60’s and the PR Republicans were pushing hard for statehood. The Independistas (less than 5% of the population then) were pushing hard for independence from the US.
“Fine cut them lose and all future Puerto Ricans are NOT Americans.”
You cannot do that either as you count strip someone of their citizenship.
But if you could do that, when ever a Puerto Rican had a baby, that baby would be a US citizen by virtue or their parent being a United States citizen.
“They are statutory citizens(granted by Congress), rather than Constitutional citizens as they were granted this status in 1917 under the Jones-Shafroth act. Therefore as they are not guaranteed Constitutional Citizenship they can be cut lose.”
That is absolute nonsense.
Before the Civil War, the Yucatan was only loosely affiliated with Mexico and twice asked the U.S. for admission as a state. The northern states turned them down out of concern that there would be one more slave state. PR may suffer the same fate as once more the balance between competing congressional parties is so precarious.
Pushing the US Navy out of Vieques should be a penalty of at least a century long continence of territorial status for PR.
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New Progressive Party? Opps! What could possibly go wrong?
Excellent point. Yes, Puerto Ricans are Americans. They are natural born citizens.
What amazes me is the ignorance of FReepers on this topic. Statehood, anti-dependent colony has always been the conservative and Republican position.
Puerto Rico has alternated between a Republican and Democrat governor. Fuentes was a Club For Growth/Freedom Caucus governor. He had a Great program to clean up the financial mess of his Democrat predecessor. But he lost re-election to an Obama Democrat who plunged PR further into financial chaos.
Now Rosello, a Republican, is trying to fix Obama’s mess. FReepers should welcome Republicans in Puerto Rico.
(As in the US, Puerto Rican Republicans have elected both some good Republicans and some not-so-good Republicans. In short they are no different than AZ or SC or any other state.)
No Way To Statehood - set them free to fail on their own dime.
You gotta admit though, their status is a bit strange. It’s more commonsensical to assume they’re not citizens. Wilson’s action in 1917 ultimately did more harm that good, both to the US and to Puerto Rico.
You have until Jan 20, then forget it!
Fine, you don’t agree. However I don’t believe that they get to choose to be a state and we don’t have any say in the matter. As to citizenship, having been born and raised in New York City where there is a huge Puerto Rican population, I can say that the vast majority of them identify as Puerto Ricans first and so I am saying that they can be cut loose and future generations of Puerto Ricans can be treated as any other nationality.
You have to give it to them. It was pretty clever to move hundreds of thousands of your people to the wealthiest city in America to take over a chunk of it.
Not Statehood; independence. Then repatriate the PRicans presently in the U.S.
If they Puerto Rico wants to become a state, the United States Congress and the president could approve statehood.
However, Congress cannot remove citizenship status from people born in Puerto Ricans, just as they cannot remove the citizenship status of people born in New York City.
Nor could they pass an act that says the children of US citizens born in New York are not US citizens.
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