The flag above isn't of the usual variety. It has 51 stars. The United States hasn't expanded for 45 years since Hawaii was admitted into the union. Around Christmas time, the results of a White House task force created under President Clinton & appointed by Bush called for a new vote on Puerto Rico's status. However, this vote would be different...
...This time a White House Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status has proposed a plebiscite with a twist: two rounds of voting to eliminate two of the three options.
In the first round, Puerto Ricans would choose between remaining a commonwealth or moving toward a more permanent status. If they decide they want a permanent solution, a second plebiscite would pose two options: statehood or independence.
People believe this process is
"slanted" towards approving statehood. This is ultimately a question for the people of Puerto Rico, but...
Should Puerto Rico become the 51st state?
My father was
American Samoan. He moved to San Diego with his family at 5. Samoans have a similar relationship as Puerto Rico to the United States, where the American Samoan islands are considered an
"unorganized unincorporated" American territory & they're considered
"American Nationals". I've always wondered if & when the United States expands again, where it would be? Puerto Rico has always been most likely, but other areas like these are possible:
- Washington D.C.
- Guam
- U.S. Virgin Islands
- Northern Mariana Islands
A story from this week points to the first portion of the vote in Puerto Rico possibly happening by
May 1st...
Bills now being drafted are likely to put the first question to voters May 1, said Juan Garcia-Passalacqua, a political science professor and commentator on the status issue for about 50 years. He predicted voters would choose statehood.
Garcia-Passalacqua said May 1 was being discussed because of its symbolism: It is the anniversary of the 1900 establishment of civilian government in Puerto Rico and of the 2003 withdrawal of the U.S. Navy, ending a century of military colonization.
In the last poll on status, an unofficial 1998 plebiscite, five choices were listed: U.S. territory, statehood, independent country, free state aligned with the United States but with limited sovereignty, or none of the above. With populists urging voters to hold out for a commonwealth option -- in which Puerto Ricans would have the powers of an independent nation while retaining U.S. citizenship -- 50.3 percent of voters cast their ballots for "none of the above," 46.5 percent supported statehood, and less than 3 percent were for independence.
There are taxation & representation questions that push for statehood in some ways. Puerto Ricans are American citizens, but they have
no representation in Congress & can't choose the President. There are 250,000 Puerto Rican military veterans, with some serving in Iraq, that have had no ability to affect American policy. They also
contribute "to Social Security, Medicare and other federal programs and pay about 32 percent of their salaries in taxes." If Puerto Rico became a state it would
recieve...
... two senators and six House members, and it would outrank 24 states and the District of Columbia in the pecking order for federal funding. And with its per capita income of $12,000 a year -- half that of Mississippi, the poorest state -- economists calculate that the island would receive at least $5 billion more in federal outlays per year than it would pay in taxes.
On the other hand, others argue that Puerto Rico would lose its
identity.
Jose Morales who favors independence argues...
...Puerto Rico should break its relationship with the U.S. to protect its culture and heritage, Morales says.
The Puerto Rican identity would be eradicated, like that of many Native American nations, if the island became a state, says Morales, a community activist.
Under statehood, Morales argues, the island would become another Hoboken, where poor Puerto Ricans were gentrified out of town by skyrocketing property values and taxes. A new wave would come to the mainland, while others would become more dependent on public assistance.
Another thing that is interesting is the political implications of this. You would think Democrats would like getting Puerto Rico into the union. You would think that the 2 Senators & 6 represenatives would be Democrats, or would they?
The proposal also makes some critics suspicious. In the past, people generally assumed Puerto Rico would be a blue state. Some commonwealth supporters suspect that has changed...
...Since many Puerto Rican elected officials are now Republicans, it's "a fallacy" to assume the island would send mostly Democrats to Washington, or that Puerto Ricans would vote for a Democratic presidential candidate, said Dennis Gonzalez of Clifton, a mainland-born Puerto Rican who works for the Bush administration.
Is that true? It would explain why Bush might support it. Also, if Puerto Rico votes for statehood, will the Republicans in Congress
take it up?
"Odds are nothing will happen. It's not high in the priority list of anyone in Congress other than the Puerto Rican representative, and he has no vote," said Puerto Rican-born Maurice Ferre, a former mayor of Miami. He said there was a prevailing attitude among many U.S. lawmakers that "Hey, 50 is a nice number, why change it?"