These days I’m seeing bushels of editorialization about Puerto Rico and thimbles of news. What’s actually happening? My guess is not much, the problem being much more one of logistics within Puerto Rico than of getting aid to Puerto Rico.
And what should be done about Puerto Rico? It isn’t just a question for Puerto Ricans, it’s a question for us, too. Speaking only for myself, I think that the best solution is for Puerto Rico to become independent, accompanied by some assumption of its debt by the United States and some mechanism for dealing with the very sticky issue of U. S. citizenship.
I would oppose statehood for Puerto Rico vehemently other than in the context of English becoming the official national language of the United States, somewhat analogous to the terms under which Utah was admitted to the Union.
The commentary above has some valid points.
I would add, however, that PR’s plight has become politicized, as has almost every other issue facing the US these days. Facts no longer count, in lieu of subjective language from officials seeking the limelight. – language which the MSM flocks to and accentuates.
The abhorrant lack of governance, leading to already failing infrastructure, no prepareness for storms is where due diligence of leaders in that territory should be placed. Questions like why truckers continued their strike when they were needed to transport supplies to their people should be front and center when looking at moral deficits.
Lastly,. Why should there be angry cries from PR b bureaucrats when the US signals the abundance of help, demonstrated right after the storm, will not be indefinite?
As for the one San Juan mayor, who became the heroic beacon of the left, she was only one of 77 island mayors. The other 76 didn’t register the aid given by the US with the same sour note as she indulged in, while standing in front of stacks of goods lingering behind her.
re: Immigration status, it’s my understanding that the citizenship question may already be decided under the same statue that applied to the Phillipines and other territorial possessions: U.S. citizenship is vested on birth in a U.S. territory, but does not descend to children. IOW, independence would create a choice to move to the U.S. or stay, the decision would impact the citizenship rights of the unborn.
I think Tyler Cowen thinks this would produce an unacceptable flood to his commentariot, but more Puerto Ricans live in the mainland than the island anyway. I think that is the future regardless.
When the Philippines got independence, Filipinos lost US citizenship.
Just for the record, the Puerto Rican truck drivers were not on strike and have been working. This has been debunked many places, even on Fox news. And again, the mayor responded to the claim that Puerto Rico was a feel good story. It was not. The initial response was slow. It took over 10 days to get the hospital ship there. Even if everything was done perfectly, it would still not have been a “feel good” story.
http://www.businessinsider.com/puerto-rico-trucker-strike-trump-referenced-fake-news-2017-10
It is interesting to note how people’s (claimed) basic beliefs change when their team holds the power. People who ordinarily claim that government cannot do anything right bristle at the slightest suggestion that government is not perfect when criticism is aimed at their guy.
Anyway, more broadly, I am not sure how we would benefit if Puerto Rico became a state. Unless there is a clear benefit, don’t make it a state.
Steve
Jan: Facts no longer count … Questions like why truckers continued their strike when they were needed to transport supplies to their people should be front and center when looking at moral deficits.
In fact, the union has been sending truckers to Puerto Rico. That Trump apparently bought into this falsehood only further shows that he has no conception of the problems resulting from the hurricane. FEMA is overwhelmed, and it takes leadership at the top to marshal resources and find solutions. There are still a million people without safe drinking water in Puerto Rico.
Good article over at the Christian Science Monitor geography, local politics play a part.
The advantage of PR as a state is two more D Senators and a House seat or two which is also a disadvantage. Either way things go (independence, state hood or status quo) Puerto Rico will continue to compete for funds better spent on say Senior Executive Service perks or expenses accounts for the Special Taskforce of the Day.
Puerto Rico is almost completely incompatible with the states of the United States. The median household income in PR is less than half that of the state with the lowest median income (Mississippi). In fact, the gap between PR and Mississippi is almost as great as that between Mississippi and the richest state.
Most of the people of Puerto Rico have limited English; Spanish is the dominant language of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rican law is based on the Spanish Civil Code. Culturally, it holds much more in common with other former Spanish colonies than it does with the U. S. Many, many more Puerto Ricans living on the island identify as Puerto Ricans than as Americans. I think you’d have to search for an Illinoisan who identifies first as an Illinoisan and then as an American and I think that’s true of the citizens of most of the states.
These are not minor details. They’re basic. The prudent alternatives are either the status quo or Puerto Rican independence.
@Bob Sykes: I stand corrected. I was repeating what I understood a commentor had written which seemed to stack up with some Court decisions. The territories have statutory citizenship, as opposed to 14th Amendment citizenship, and statutory citizenship can be revoked or modified, and the Court decisions must have been situations on the fold btw/ Constitutional and statutory citizenship.
I give a lot of people the benefit of a doubt that it is not solely political. Political representation is a foundational principle in this country, though politics is too.
If PR is a reliable Democratic vote, it is not clear to me that national representation gives PR more input on its interests. It’s the purple states that get fought over and have their interests maximized through the political process.(*) The natural reaction to a complaint that a political relationship is not serving particular interests is to sever that relationship, not reduce individual autonomy by entering into a consensus building coalition.
(*) To the extent a Des Moines, Iowa suburb is similar to a Los Angeles suburb (and it may be quite similar in many respects), it doesn’t matter that much. If there is no suburb on the mainland that resembles a suburb in the PR, then PR is screwed by this framework.
There were FEMA workers actually on the island, and boats of supplies just outside port at the time of the hurricane. The primary issue was, as pointed out, logIstics. Just as they did here in FL workers were tending to their own families and residences first. I can’t speak to strikes or some hospital boat. There are always one off stories. The second problem is that PR is closer to a third world country than FL or TX. What the hell do you expect?
As for the issue of PRs future, I don’t see a better recitation than Daves last comment.
They need to understand tat they are on their own. Organize for survival at the block or street level. No one can live long without clean water. The old or the ill, forget about it, funeral pyres to stop disease spreading. Firearms replace coin, youthful vigor and muscle repace experience, a new opportunity for revolutionaries, narco-traffickers, human traffickers, the clear eyed opportunists, unburdened by pity for the weak. This could be our future, (those of us outside the enclaves), in the event of an E M P attack.
“There were FEMA workers actually on the island, and boats of supplies just outside port at the time of the hurricane.”
But not enough. You may not want to talk about strikes, but jan recites what is commonly believed by folks on your team. They think the PRs were on strike. But thanks for demonstrating what I mentioned. The “government can’t do anything right” types like you are suddenly claiming that government performance is perfect, when you have your team in office.
Steve