Puerto Rico Statehood Referendum

[Valmy]

However, I don't think it is anti-democratic or imperialist to say, "you can't be a state, you can only be a territory, and if you don't like this arrangement, with a vote you can become independent."

I am going to go ahead and disagree with you there. I think that article clearly articulated what I thought territories were supposed to be. The Puerto Ricans clearly think they should have a say here so if this message was delivered it didn't leave much of an impact.

Puerto Rico is substantial enough to be a state, but we have territories that are not.

True. But I am only addressing PR here. Tim has developed several solutions to this problem however and I hope he has been in communication with his representative

[Valmy]

I'm fine with PR coming in, but not with going to 51 states. So two existing states will be required to merge so we can keep the total at 50.

My first thought proposal would be to combine Connecticut and Rhode Island, or Delaware and Maryland.

Delaware should be reunited with Pennsylvania. 13 colonies my ass.

[The Larch]

What about joining the Dakotas? It's not as if there's much people living over there, that way at least it'd go over 1 million population.

[alfred russel]

Even better: we should merge the Yukon and Northwest Territories into Alaska.

Less territories in the world, and a sparsely populated state will get a few more people.

[Barrister]

Even better: we should merge the Yukon and Northwest Territories into Alaska.

Less territories in the world, and a sparsely populated state will get a few more people.

Not even Dorsey wants Nunavut.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I'm fine with PR coming in, but not with going to 51 states. So two existing states will be required to merge so we can keep the total at 50.

My first thought proposal would be to combine Connecticut and Rhode Island, or Delaware and Maryland.

OvB, I thought you had the crazy theory that West Virginia should still be a part of Virginia...

That's not a "theory", it's called the U.S. Constitution. Legally the separation of the Western Counties from Virginia was unconstitutional and also undemocratic on top of that. Would I advocate for their merging back today? Not really, but just as a constitutional issue it wasn't proper.

[dps]

However, I don't think it is anti-democratic or imperialist to say, "you can't be a state, you can only be a territory, and if you don't like this arrangement, with a vote you can become independent."

I am going to go ahead and disagree with you there. I think that article clearly articulated what I thought territories were supposed to be. The Puerto Ricans clearly think they should have a say here so if this message was delivered it didn't leave much of an impact.

Puerto Rico is substantial enough to be a state, but we have territories that are not.

True. But I am only addressing PR here. Tim has developed several solutions to this problem however and I hope he has been in communication with his representative

FWIW, I basically agree with you.   I've said for a while that they should have to choose between statehood and independence.

OTOH, I'm not a fan of them choosing statehood only after running their finance into the ground.  Make 'em get that in order first.

[CountDeMoney]

I'm fine with PR coming in, but not with going to 51 states. So two existing states will be required to merge so we can keep the total at 50.

My first thought proposal would be to combine Connecticut and Rhode Island, or Delaware and Maryland.

No way, man.  Not to the original 13.  Why not the Dakotas going back as one territory?  Who the hell needed two of them, anyway?

And fuck you and your political land gifts, Valmy. 

[Ed Anger]

I still favor PR as some sort of "concentration camp". Might have to come up with a better name.

Or send millinials to Gitmo.

[CountDeMoney]

You're so full of shit. You can't hide your Rosario Dawson horseface fetish behind such rabid anti-Ricanism.

[Eddie Teach]

What is a "horseface"?

Dawson is lovely imo.

[Syt]

Virginia should reclaim the secessionists in West Virginia.

[jimmy olsen]

I expect that the left wing of the democratic party will push this hard if the Dems gain control of both houses in the fall.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/puerto-rico-pushes-for-statehood-calling-it-a-civil-rights-issue/2018/06/27/717c5092-7a43-11e8-93cc-6d3beccdd7a3_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b7d9b1dc224f

Puerto Rico pushes for statehood, calling it a civil rights issue

By Katie Zezima
June 27 at 7:04 PM
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Puerto Rico is making its biggest push for statehood in years, filing legislation in Congress that would make the island the 51st state by 2021.

Rep. Jenniffer González-Colón (R) filed a bill on Wednesday that would pave the way for the island to become a state no later than January 2021. The measure is co-sponsored by 21 Republicans and 14 Democrats and fulfills the promises of González-Colón and Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, who campaigned on a statehood platform and said statehood is a civil rights issue for Puerto Ricans.

"No longer do we want ambiguity. No longer do we want this kicked down the road," Rosselló said at a Capitol Hill news conference. "In Congress you're either with us or you're against the people of Puerto Rico."

The aggressive push for statehood comes less than a year after the island was devastated by Hurricane Maria, and residents who feel ignored by the federal government are still in the middle of a humanitarian crisis, wondering if the lights will turn on. The island is also mired in a financial crisis after declaring a form of bankruptcy last year and is under the supervision of an oversight board based in the United States.


Elected officials said making the island a state would help it receive the help it needs and ensure that its residents are no longer treated as second-class citizens by the federal government.

Rep. José E. Serrano (D-N.Y.), who was born in Puerto Rico, said that if it is wasn't clear that "Puerto Rico is in a colonial relationship with the United States, look at what happened after Hurricane Maria . . . they are an afterthought."

Nearly a year after the storm, millions in federal dollars for reconstruction have yet to be allocated; and many islanders still feel disrespected by President Trump, who, during a visit, lobbed paper towels into a crowd of survivors as if he was shooting basketballs.

[Sluggish recovery from Hurricane Maria reignites calls for Puerto Rico's statehood, independence]

Puerto Ricans, Serrano said, deserve "to have the same rights and privileges I have living in New York."


But the drive for statehood has not been wholeheartedly embraced on the island, where it is seen as a stable option that blends both sovereignty and federal support. In a referendum last year, 97 percent of those who voted chose statehood, but just 23 percent of registered voters cast ballots. The vote was viewed as flawed, and opposition parties boycotted.

It was the fifth referendum held on statehood since Puerto Rico was acquired in the Spanish-American War of 1898 and designated a commonwealth. The island's first democratically elected governor, Luis Muñoz Marín, cut a deal with Congress in the 1950s that allowed the island to manage its own finances.

The last three statehood votes have been controversial because the parties in power have been accused of manipulating the language on the ballot. Federico A. de Jesús, principal of FDJ Solutions, a consulting firm, and the former deputy director of the Puerto Rico governor's office in Washington, said last year's referendum was historic because so few people participated, and said the bill is more of something that politicians can say they did rather than reflecting the will of residents.


"Frankly, right now I think folks in Puerto Rico aren't focused on politics, they're focused on whether there's going to be a power outage, whether the traffic lights are working," he said. "Really what we need to do is rebuild the island, and while the control board is managing the island's finances, I don't think the status issue will be resolved until the debt issues are."


The bill calls for the creation of a task force that would recommend which laws to repeal that put Puerto Rico on a different footing than the states, to find temporary economic measures to help Puerto Rico transition to statehood, propose rules and dates for federal elections and study how statehood would affect the U.S. House.

Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens but cannot vote for president. González-Colón is a nonvoting member of Congress. Rosselló appointed members to a statehood commission or "shadow delegation" — three Republicans, three Democrats and one independent — to roam the halls of Congress, asking to be seated and for Puerto Rico to be admitted to the union.

There has been little indication that the bill would pass. Puerto Rico had 3.3 million residents before the hurricane, making its population slightly larger than that of Connecticut, and could give the island seven representatives.

Supporters of the bill said that would finally put the island on equal footing.

"Because Puerto Rico is a territory and not a state, the people of Puerto Rico can be, and are, treated differently," said Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), who represents a heavily Puerto Rican district in central Florida. "Every member of Congress should care about Puerto Rico, because Puerto Ricans are fellow citizens."

[Valmy]

Why would the other wings of the Democratic Party oppose it?

[jimmy olsen]

Why would the other wings of the Democratic Party oppose it?

I didn't say they'd oppose it. I said the left wing would be the one to push it.