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If they want it, let them in, and American Samoa as well. They've served honorably and deserve it. Yes, it's an economic basket case and a perfect reflection of California's economic future as well. But PR IS salvageable and worth it.
The "slavery" argument is just distracting from the discussion.
This occupation of territories nonsense is just wrong. Either let them be a state or let them be their own country. What we're doing now to PR (and, for that matter, all of our territories) is just plain wrong.
that wasn't my point....when you use force on people to be under your jurisdiction and don't give them real sovereignty to deal with their issues then we have a responsibility to them, just like slavery.
The problem with slavery didn't end when the Civil War ended and shipping them to Africa to erase the past wasn't the solution either. Former slaves were here and we had to deal with them. It took us a while to get it right and make it right.
Puerto Rico is here, its part of our history , they are U.S. CITIZENS for over 1 century and deserve to finally have representation and a voice......ignoring the situation like the Federal government has done will not fix the problem and forcing them to be independent and stripping them of their U.S. CITIZENSHIP after 1 century of what we did and the facts its an insult to them and us.
like Powell said: "you break it you own it"....and that's the situation with Puerto Rico, we broke it in 1898 and kept it for over a century and now we own it and some here don't want to do the right thing of giving them what themselves have everyday.....they say they are a burden, LOL......a burden is when your country gets invaded and occupied and U.S. laws forced upon you and you have no voice and no representation and your rights are limited by the same federal government, that is a burden............man up, make them fully part of the system they are under the jurisdiction or cut them off with financial aid.
so that's the standard now to give a voice and representation to U.S. Citizens that are under U.S. RULE and jurisdiction for over 1 century...as long that you are not a "burden" to the country you can have representation?
if we go by your definition of "burden" to the country, we could strip over half of the population in this country of their representation and voice. We could do the same for corporations.
Puerto Rico is already a U.S. Territory and their residents U.S. Citizens........maybe you should have asked that question in 1898 when the U.S. invaded the island, made them into a U.S. Possession UNDER FULL federal jurisdiction and forced Citizenship on them so they could fight in our wars in blood..........isn't that a benefit already. Why the U.S. did all that if they didn't see a benefit for their expansion? DUH!
The U.S. adopted Puerto Rico already, that ship has sailed a long time ago....By giving them statehood you are finally giving them representation and a voice over a federal government that has ruled them for over 1 century with limited rights and NO sovereignty to handle their matters on their own just like each of the 50 states.
Your question is 1 century old....the U.S. already has to deal with Puerto Rico under the U.S. CONSTITUTION territorial clause.......it benefits the U.S. when you give millions of U.S. citizens representation and a voice over the government that rules them....that on itself is a BENEFIT that benefits both sides, the government because it keeps them in check and the people.
I could give your more benefits possibilities in making Puerto Rico into a state in this global economy and dealing with Latin America but you would just blow it off.
Entertain us. I legitimately want to hear you come up with some reasons that PR as a state would be a net benefit for us. Make up some nonsense.
already did...your federal government decided that in 1898 the benefits of invading and occupying Puerto Rico.
Military point to control the region of the world and control their investments and interests in the Caribbean and in Central and South America. Use Puerto Ricans to fight in all American Wars and military conflicts since WW 1. Expand U.S. businesses abroad. In case you haven't notice, most of the businesses in Puerto Rico are American and Puerto Ricans keep those businesses full. The malls and american store chains are always full, isn't that a benefit to the American private sector?
are those benefits that your federal government factored in when they decided to invade and occupy Puerto Rico and force U.S.Citizenship on them?
This is a simple question for you, why would the federal government give U.S. Citizenship to all residents of a territory if they had no plan of making then into a state in the future?
Puerto Rico provides more benefits as a state than the Mormons in the Territory of Utah and New Mexico and NEVADA which are all deserts.
it doesn't benefit you....but the federal government doesn't give a shi@t what you think...they will do things to benefit them and their corporate buddies.
I support Statehood for Puerto Rico because it is the proper status for that Territory. I also support Statehood because it really, really pi**es off the Whites Only alt-right racists terrified watching their monopoly on political power rapidly declining.
FWIW - The United States annexed Puerto Rico along with the Philippines and other places after the Spanish American War in order to provide refuel ports for the US Navy. The warships of that time were fueled by solid coal and that prevented refueling while underway. All of this was an attempt to join the 19th Century quest for ever larger economic empires. That ambition eventually led to our involvement, for better or worse, of all the wars of the 20th and early 21st Century.
The OP reminds me a bit of a girl I once had a date with a long time ago. Somehow we came upon the subject of Puerto Rico and the way she talked about Puerto Rico was as if they were some distant, far off and exotic land. So I said to her, "you do know that they are part of the USA, right?" I'll never forget her reply, she said with astonishment, "When did this happen?!" As if they somehow snuck in under cover of darkness into our country. "Only about a hundred years ago", was my reply.
I've thought for awhile that Puerto Rico will eventually become a US state, which is their right to do so, just like Hawaii and Alaska last time around. Once upon a time, they had a bit of an advantage being a commonwealth but those advantages have become mostly disadvantages now. Not to mention they have no elected representatives to pursue their interests like every other state. And I'm pretty sure most Americans have no idea that Puerto Rico has even been a part of the USA for the last 130 years or so. The reasons for statehood make a lot more sense for them than not.
that wasn't my point....when you use force on people to be under your jurisdiction and don't give them real sovereignty to deal with their issues then we have a responsibility to them, just like slavery.
The problem with slavery didn't end when the Civil War ended and shipping them to Africa to erase the past wasn't the solution either. Former slaves were here and we had to deal with them. It took us a while to get it right and make it right.
Puerto Rico is here, its part of our history , they are U.S. CITIZENS for over 1 century and deserve to finally have representation and a voice......ignoring the situation like the Federal government has done will not fix the problem and forcing them to be independent and stripping them of their U.S. CITIZENSHIP after 1 century of what we did and the facts its an insult to them and us.
like Powell said: "you break it you own it"....and that's the situation with Puerto Rico, we broke it in 1898 and kept it for over a century and now we own it and some here don't want to do the right thing of giving them what themselves have everyday.....they say they are a burden, LOL......a burden is when your country gets invaded and occupied and U.S. laws forced upon you and you have no voice and no representation and your rights are limited by the same federal government, that is a burden............man up, make them fully part of the system they are under the jurisdiction or cut them off with financial aid.
I don't disagree - I'm just pointing out that by bringing up slavery, people are going to nitpick that analogy.
It's as easy as just saying it is wrong. Because it is.
FWIW - The United States annexed Puerto Rico along with the Philippines and other places after the Spanish American War in order to provide refuel ports for the US Navy. The warships of that time were fueled by solid coal and that prevented refueling while underway. All of this was an attempt to join the 19th Century quest for ever larger economic empires. That ambition eventually led to our involvement, for better or worse, of all the wars of the 20th and early 21st Century.
ahh a benefit that the U.S. benefited from to make themselves into a Super Power.
See All American NYC, if you payed a little more attention in history class and investigate why our federal government did what it did and the benefits today that you enjoy you would know the benefits of the U.S. being in Puerto Rico.
Making them into a state is just giving them representation and a voice, that in itself is the greatest benefit. It makes no sense in keeping them a territory under U.S. jurisdiction in limbo.
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