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Thursday, April 29 2010 - 07:11 PM
Statehood for Puerto Rico?
I was curious about a reference to Puerto Rican statehood on another blog thread and did a little checking.
The leader of the Puerto Rico Statehood movement in Congress in recent years has been Don Young (R-Alaska). The last big push for Puerto Rican statehood was in 2007, however there is (and has been) significant resistance in Puerto Rico, some preferring to continue their commonwealth status, others seeking outright independence.
However, the involvement of pro-independence radicals in an assassination attempt against President Harry S. Truman in 1950 and in shootings that wounded five members in the U.S. House chambers in 1954 contributed to the marginalization of the independence movement.
Those who support maintaining some version of a commonwealth, established when Puerto Rico drew up its Constitution in 1952, argue it allows them to preserve their culture while maintaining the advantages of their connection to the United States, which include U.S. citizenship.
“Statehooders,” those who seek to fold Puerto Rico into the U.S. as the 51st state, argue that the commonwealth system is unjust and a vestige of imperialism (Spain ceded the island to the United States in 1898 as a result of the Spanish-American War) that leaves Puerto Ricans with no political clout.
Historic ties between politicians in the U.S. and Puerto Rico have created some strange bedfellows. “Commonwealthers” are mainly members of Puerto Rico’s Popular Democratic Party and are allied with Democrats in the U.S. Members of the New Progressive Party, who have championed the idea of statehood, are tied to the Republican Party and included Luis Fortuno, Puerto Rico’s non-voting resident commissioner in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Statehood has been an issue championed by Republicans for decades and was once written into the Republican Party platform. On Feb. 9, 1989, George H.W. Bush called on Congress to authorize a referendum to let Puerto Ricans decide their political future in his call for a “compassionate society”, stating that he favored statehood as part of an “anti-imperialism” movement.
However, residents of Puerto Rico have rejected statehood in every referendum conducted on the subject since 1967.
Puerto Rico is a Spanish-speaking island which has been a semi-independent commonwealth (“freely associated state” in Spanish) of the United States since 1952. Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917. Most Puerto Ricans see little to be gained through statehood.
And it is disturbing to contemplate that the motto of America’s 51st state might be that of other Latin American nations: “Yankee go home. Leave the money.”
No Spin says...
HR 2499 — it’s called “The Puerto Rico Democracy Act”
TONS of info on the net…
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whomeye says...
One of Beck’s anonymous reformers from congress informed him of the vote. It’s been hush hush in the media and I should add that both dems and reps would be voting yes on this.
Here’s the video from yesterday’s program:
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Ray Cunneff says...
Since 1970, HR 2499 has been opposed by Puerto Ricans three times already. It’s historically been a Republican effort. So who’s pushing this bill now?
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No Spin says...
I only HEARD that a vote was being taken today.. That is all I know..
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No Spin says...
The Difference is the questions have been altered, supposedly, to entice the citizens to vote yes..
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Ray Cunneff says...
From World Correspondents:
“HR 2499 has both its pros and cons for both Americans and Puerto Ricans. For one, this Puerto Rico Democracy Act lets Puerto Ricans continue to enjoy their commonwealth status which allows them to enjoy the protection and freedoms and even financial benefits of the United States without paying federal income taxes.
However, there are also problems if this HR 2499 bill will be pushed through making Puerto Rico a full state of the US. The first is that of creating a bilingual country with the addition of an almost completely Spanish-speaking state. I mean how many people from Puerto Rico can really speak English?
Second is the problem of reassigning some seats in the U.S. House of Representatives to Puerto Ricans. This means that there will be some states who gets deprived of the seat because of the congressionally-mandated 435 seat cap."
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No Spin says...
In 1998, there were five options on the ballot:
Limited self-government;
free association;
statehood;
sovereignty
and none of the above.
Which one won? None of the above.
But now, the vote is going to happen in two stages.
The first stage:
“Do you want to maintain the status quo?
Instead of saying “do you want to be a state?” it’s “do you want the status quo?”
The second vote leaves you with three choices:
1. statehood;
2. full independence
3. modified commonwealth.
Remember, full independence and modified commonwealth historically get less than 3 percent of the vote. So those options will be the only thing standing in the way of Puerto Rico becoming a state.
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Ray Cunneff says...
Sounds like a bad idea for them and for us.
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No Spin says...
BTW: They are debating this right now.. Just saw a clip…
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whomeye says...
ns, so far everything Beck reports is correct.
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whomeye says...
The bill passed 223-169 and now must be taken up by the Senate.
The bill introduced a two-step ballot measure for Puerto Rico to decide if its residents want to change their current relationship with the United States. If they vote to change their status, they can then choose to become a state, pursue independence, or seek some other “political association between sovereign nations.”
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No Spin says...
It is a SCAM!! A set up… get ready folks for the 51st state or 58th state if you use Obamas Numbers.
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whomeye says...
LOL! Now we just need Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, Canada, Guam, etc…
Oh what the hell, let’s just take ALL of the seven continents.
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avbornbred says...
Hugo Chavez could be the governor of the State of Venezuela.
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Grumpy says...
I wuz always in favor of bringing in Baja California. Neat place to hang veg out & half the population is already in USA anyway.
Also shortens our border…at least the walk-across part.
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Ray Cunneff says...
I haven’t found any current reference to a push for Puerto Rican statehood, so where is this story coming from?
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