The debate over Puerto Rico’s political status, and any meaningful efforts to change it, are stuck in the mud. In a few weeks, House Democrats are likely to introduce a supposedly historic bill to address the issue… which is destined to die in the Senate and leave the status quo unchanged.
While that status quo remains, the conversation over whether Puerto Rico should pursue statehood or independence continues. Many well-meaning Americans’ contribution to that conversation—insofar as they engage in it at all—is to merely ask some version of “what do Puerto Ricans want?” Case in point:
It’s the obvious question. It’s an important question. But it’s the wrong question—or at least grossly insufficient. Asking a different one might shift the conversation in a more productive direction, something the debate over Puerto Rico’s political future badly needs.
What the U.S. Wants Matters More
It’s certainly not wrong to consider and even center the preferences of Puerto Ricans. But it does elide the inconvenient truth that, whatever Puerto Ricans want, the U.S. Congress has the final say. “What do Puerto Ricans want” wrongly frames the issue as a matter of Puerto Rican indecisiveness, and not of Americans’ inaction and abdication of the responsibility to end a colonial relationship. Both play a role, but the latter is the main reason why the status quo endures.
The oft-repeated refrain from Americans, that they’ll support “whatever Puerto Ricans want” is also inadequate. First, because it’s not true: a majority of Puerto Ricans have wanted an end to our colonial status for over a decade. If the most recent plebiscite is to be believed, a slim majority want statehood. Most Americans haven’t lifted a finger to make that happen—and they’re the ones who would have to, since Puerto Ricans are largely powerless to affect what happens in D.C.
An Issue that Deserves More than “Whatever”
It’s also wrong for a deeper reason. “Whatever you want” is the disdainful, apathetic response of someone who can’t be bothered to put much thought into what’s best for Puerto Ricans. It’s grossly apolitical, in the sense that it sets aside the purpose and process of politics: to examine the facts, to reflect on our values, to make a well-reasoned analysis—and only then, taking all that into account, to support or oppose an idea.
To wit: popular support should be a political end point, not the starting line. It may be uncouth to say it, but people can “want” the wrong things; they can be both factually and morally wrong about what is good and desirable. One should hardly have to explain that in a country that elected (and almost reelected) Donald Trump. And, closer to the matter at hand, the fact that for decades a majority of Puerto Ricans putatively supported the harmful and immoral status quo proves just how wrong we can be.
Americans would not decide their views on any other issue by looking at the latest poll, shrugging their shoulders, and going “I’ll have what they’re having.” They owe Puerto Ricans better than that as well.
A Better Question: What’s Best for Puerto Rico?