Context: Donald Trump spewing bullshit about annexing Canada and Greenland. Meanwhile, Congress has been dragging their feet for YEARS on resolving Puerto Rico’s territorial status.
Citizens living in US territories do not receive equal representation in congress. For instance, PR has one “delegate” to the House (not an official voting member) and no senators. Taxation without representation.
Although, at this point I wouldn’t blame PR if they changed their minds about wanting to become the 51st state.
Just heads up, pointing this out makes his cult happier, they fully want him to snub a Hispanic territory for a country that says ‘speak white’ to other European languages also originating from white people.
“You’ll never have to vote again” was, I believe, the quote, so… Not to minimize this very real problem, but I think we all need to be worried about equal representation, right? 🤣😂😅😢
He keeps saying he wants to make Canada a state but we all know he means “territory” or at least that’s what the ultimate outcome would be. The people around him are not dumb enough to create a new massive state with like 50 EC votes that would 100% vote Democrat.
Very optimistic of you to think that there will be any more honest voting
Very optimistic of you to think that previous voting was completely honest.
It’s cute that you think you’re clairvoyant ☺️
Another useless reddit refugee.
Don’t be such a condescending prick.
Disagree or not, let’s not turn “reddit refugee” into some kind of insult. Damn near everyone on this site is a reddit refugee. Lemmy is a great alternative to reddit because it feels welcoming around here, and comments like that really fuck up the whole ethos.
I’ll take the compliment but I’m not clairvoyant, I’m just paying attention.
Although close the last couple times PR voted, they voted against becoming a state…
I don’t think that’s correct. They’ve been voting for statehood. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Puerto_Rican_status_referendum
Fun battleship fact: all US battleships have been named after states except for one: BB-5, the USS Kearsarge. The original Kearsarge fought in the Civil War and sank the Confederate raider Alabama; ever since then the US Navy has always had a ship in commission named Kearsarge - presumably as a giant fuck you to the South for losing. BB-5 got the name in 1900, forever ruining an otherwise-perfect ship naming convention. For this reason, I support Puerto Rico becoming a state, but only if they rename themselves Kearsarge.
What was Kearsarge named after?
Mount Kearsarge in New Hampshire.
Interesting, were there a series of ships named after mountains at some point? Seems like an odd thing to name boats after: the things the most distant possible from the sea.
Republicans don’t want PR as the 51st state because: PR doesn’t have oil wells & PR has brown people.
Also, it’s because Puerto Rico voted 65% for democrats.
Puerto Rico in reality “good now everyone can stop asking us to be the 51st”
American Samoa, US Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, & Guam: “Maybe they’ll forget we exist…”
If the US gives away Puerto Rico, a ton of technology companies will be in trouble due to citizen requirements. Like my company off shores a lot of engineering and IT work to PR.
Washington DC: bottom meme
At least PR doesn’t get its budget and local laws overturned. DC is like below colony status.
It’s amazing to me that Hawaii has around half the population of Puerto Rico and still they aren’t a state.
It’s sad.
For instance, PR has one “delegate” to the House (not an official voting member) and no senators. Taxation without representation.
That’s the kinda stuff people have had to actively ignore in order to be surprised by current events. Like that’s straight up a colony. The thing the US used to be before allegedly abolishing the concept.
I would think Puerto Rico is ready to no longer be a commonwealth, much less a state.
Pretty sure by 51st state he means Puerta Rico like status. If the entirety of Canada was considered 1 state it may as well be.
There’s no way he’d annex Canada then give them the right to vote. It would be 2 more Democratic Senators, a massive leftward shift in the House, and would have more electoral college votes than any other state - all going to the Dems.
That’s cool, I didn’t think Puerto Ricans had expressed a clear preference, but 56% is pretty good. What are we waiting for? Let’s define a path, let’s start walking it. Let’s chat about whether it’s the path they want.
After a quick read on the issue, the biggest argument against was that Hispanics vote Democrat. But now that Trump broke that trend, maybe now’s the time to get Republicans on board.
Both mainland us and PR have a lot to offer each other. PR can benefit from more investment in their economy, healthcare, infrastructure, etc, we can benefit from both a slight change in perspective, additional business and tourism opportunities, etc.
From what I’ve always heard, most people there weren’t interested in being an actual state.
Like I said, that was my impression as well, but it appears the last referendum had 56% in favor. I don’t know if that’s enough for a significant change in government but it’s clearly enough to take seriously. It’s enough that I hope there is a clear process and clear thresholds to progress in whatever direction the people want, and most of all I wish the US wasn’t an obstruction to whichever direction they want to go.
Agreed, same with other territories.
Give PR the independence
