Americans have to take into consideration that Puerto Rico (PR) is a different nation culturally speaking, Puerto Ricans are more liberal, most are for government programs, intervention.... which is the main reason why they don't want to be independent, there's too much dependency of the island on federal transfers.
But at the same time, they're a very proud people, every time a Puerto Rican represents the island well or a national team wins a medal or beats the USA team, they celebrate like crazy, so deep inside, if PR had a solid economy making people less dependent on the US, independence would have much more support.
I think the best solution for both countries is a free association agreement, the United States would reduce part of its expenses and no longer have a colony in the Caribbean, while Puerto Rico would gain the autonomy it needs to compete in the global economy.
This is different from a Blue state how?.
Not to mention we wouldn't have 50 states anymore. 50 is such a nice, round number.
The difference being that Guam and the VI can vote in a Presidential election.
Why is it that people in American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands are allowed to elect the delegates who choose the nominees, even if those voters aren’t eligible to cast ballots in the presidential election?
Here’s the short answer: each political party has decided to give people in the U.S. territories a role in the nominating process.
This decision isn't governed by federal statute or by the Constitution but rather by party rules.
Why Guam can help nominate, but can?t vote for president - Decision '08- msnbc.com
Low turnout
Election officials said turnout was extremely low, perhaps 400,000 out of nearly 3 million registered voters. So while polls showed Clinton holding a lead, she was likely to win a majority of the commonwealth’s 55 delegates but not get a huge influx of popular votes.
“Even though there is some enthusiasm, you cannot compare this with a general election in Puerto Rico,” said former San Juan Mayor Hector Luis Acevedo, the local representative of the Democratic Party.
Statehood debate hung over vote
Puerto Rico’s politics is dominated by two local parties, known as red and blue, divided over the issue of statehood.
Along those lines, Clinton often referred to “bringing red and blue together,” but Puerto Rico Senate President Kenneth McClintock, co-chairman of her campaign, said the local parties would not be working to get out the vote because there was no political benefit.
“The State Elections Commission has put very little advertising, contrary to what they usually do," he McClintock said. “We’ve had some factors against us.”
In addition, the smaller Partido Independista, which advocates full independence for the island, held a public protest of the vote Sunday in San Juan. It discouraged followers from participating in the contest because the commonwealth does not have a vote in the general election.
Acevedo and McClintock both said that even if local voters were not interested in the outcome, the attention that had been paid to Puerto Rico by the candidates and the national press would help the islands.
“The Puerto Rican voter and the Puerto Rican citizens will enjoy more benefits, more attention, more friends in the Senate of the United States no matter who wins,” Acevedo said. “We will have more attention to our problems and to the solutions than we will have had if we not have this primary in Puerto Rico.”
Clinton easily wins Puerto Rico - Decision '08- msnbc.com
I lived in San Juan for a couple of years. I really enjoyed it and gained a lot of respect for the PR's. I heard it said that they have a sort of cultural scizophrenia. Discussions with my PR friends tended to conclude that the welfare state that we (US) allowed on the island has turned it from an agricultural economy with fairly high employment to one where most people would just as soon be on the dole as work on a banana farm or sugar cane farm. They have had for decades major tax incentives to bring industry to the island. But of course if you manufacture it in PR you have to ship it to your market from an island 1000 miles from Miami. The program has largely been successful though.
As to the question should they be a state...I think it's time we offered them a choice between statehood with its requisite responsibilities or simply ally, in other words losing their commonwealth status.
Some information regarding Puerto Rico to understand the reality of the country:
I say yes only if Puerto Rico first makes english its official language, makes it mandatory to teach children in english and starts a program to teach adults english who do not know how to speak english and makes all their ballots and government forms in english. Despite what many globalist pieces of **** say the US is still a english speaking country,there should be no exceptions regardless if the the territory in question originally spoke another language.
Would you like to be called a piece of whatever for your ideas? :roll:
If you want to be respected, then respect other people.
PR is an 'external possession", like the USVI, Guam, etc.I am just wondering why we even still have them as a protectorate... or something of the United States.
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