The current 50 star United States flag has been in use for 52 years, 4 months, and 4 days since the admittance of Hawaii to the Union. There was a vote last night that may add a 51st star to the American flag.
A referendum favoring statehood has passed with a majority in Puerto Rico, which currently has the political status of a United States territory (the people of Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens, serve in the U.S. military, but have no voting representation in Congress & can't vote in U.S. presidential elections). While the referendum is non-binding, it is the first time statehood has received a majority in a referendum. And before the referendum occurred, President Obama vowed to respect the will of the Puerto Rican people, no matter what their decision was.
The two-part referendum first asked voters if they wanted to change Puerto Rico's 114-year relationship with the United States. A second question gave voters three alternatives if they did want a change: statehood, independence, or a sort of middle-ground called "sovereign free association" (i.e. a status similar to Puerto Rico's current quasi-sovereign "commonwealth" status).
The question now becomes whether there is any way an enabling act for Puerto Rican statehood could get through Congress? On the other side of things, there are some criticisms of this referendum's two-question format and whether we should admit into the union a population in which around 40% doesn't want statehood (which may also include the island's newly elected governor). For example, by comparison 93% of the voters in Hawaii supported statehood in the 1959 vote that provided for its admission.
The last time we admitted states to the union, it was done as a sort of package deal to get political unanimity. Alaska and Hawaii's statehood was tied together since Republicans and Democrats thought the political opportunities of both states would balance each other out (interestingly enough, at the time of their admittance, Alaska was thought to be a likely Democratic state and Hawaii a Republican one).
Puerto Rican statehood would be an interesting issue to watch Republicans fret about. While it's likely Puerto Rico's elected, national representatives would be Democrats (or a Puerto Rican political party that caucuses with Democrats), it's not an absolute given. The outgoing Governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Fortuño, is a member of the Partido Nuevo Progresista, but he's also a member of the Republican National Committee, which means it's possible for Republican leaning candidates to win in Puerto Rico. That might be enough for there to be some bipartisan support on this issue. And seeing that last night's results would probably lead a blind man to see that the Republicans have demographic problems, they might not want to be seen as denying American statehood to nearly 4 million Hispanics. But when have Republicans ever been known to do anything logical?
From CNN:
In an overshadowed Election Day contest, Puerto Ricans voted in favor of statehood in a nonbinding referendum, marking the first time such an initiative garnered a majority.
Puerto Ricans were asked about their desires in two parts. First, by a 54% to 46% margin, voters rejected their current status as a U.S. commonwealth. In a separate question, 61% chose statehood as the alternative, compared with 33% for the semi-autonomous "sovereign free association" and 6% for outright independence.
An economic downturn and shrinking population were the factors that contributed to the support for statehood, where referendums in 1967, 1993 and 1998 failed, Puerto Rico Secretary of State Kenneth McClintock said.
"I think people just came to realize that the current relationship simply does not create the number of jobs that we need," he said. An exodus of residents from the island has culminated in a staggering statistic: Fifty-eight percent of Puerto Ricans live in the mainland United States, McClintock said... "The people are withdrawing their consent to be governed the way they are governed," McClintock said, citing the Declaration of Independence, which states that a government's power comes from the consent of those governed.
"Congress will have to address this and will have to pay attention," he said.
From the
Washington Post:
For one thing, becoming a state would allow them to benefit from an extra $20 billion a year in federal funds – something Puerto Rico could use, given its 13 percent unemployment rate... Puerto Rico the state would also gain two seats in the U.S. Senate and five in the House of Representatives — a major upgrade from the one non-voting delegate that currently represents the territory.
“The case for statehood isn’t one of additional benefits and special treatment,” said William-Jose Velez, executive president of the Puerto Rican Student Statehood Association, told the Cronkite Borderlands Initiative. “It is one of equal treatment. We want the same benefits but the same responsibilities and rights.”
Outside observers also say that statehood would bolster both Puerto Rico and the United States. Puerto Rican residents currently don’t pay federal income taxes, and companies doing business there don’t pay corporate taxes — two loopholes that would be closed if the island were made the 51st state. “Once Puerto Rico becomes a state, its fortunes could arc upward,” writes Reuters columnist Gregg Easterbrook, pointing out that Hawaii saw marked economic growth after it was made a state in 1959.
From
BBC News:
Ties between the island and the mainland are strong and many on the island considered it inevitable that a full union be requested.
A young voter in the capital San Juan, Jerome Lefebre, said: "Puerto Rico has to be a state. There is no other option. "We're doing okay, but we could do better. We would receive more benefits, a lot more financial help."
But that opinion was rejected by Ramon Lopez de Azua: "Puerto Rico's problem is not its political status. I think that the United States is the best country in the world, but I am Puerto Rican first."