Don't Want All Those Brown People Having Equal Representation
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.
1063
Comments64
Oh I believe if you had a referendum right now, PR would go for independence. Tying yourself up to this ship would be bad news. Trump wouldn't just bring back bombing Vieques, he'd turn the main island into a firing range.
I wonder if he'd deport me since I have a PR birth certificate.
But who's gonna toss them paper towels when there's a tsunami?
*a paper towel
The former paper towel budget has been slashed to half a sheet.
Puerto Rico should join Canada.
Easy way to tell:
I'm not so sure. Climate change had doomed PR. Increasing storms, sea level rise, and location make it an increasingly unviable place to live. If they go out on their own they have nowhere to go.
As it they can move to a state and vote without needing any government approval or immigration. They are US citizens. I live in Florida and have a fair number of friends who are from PR. All of their families are planning on moving here.
Moving is the only part that makes sense, until the trumpets convince the Supremes that birthright citizenship isn’t anymore.
You can be sure PR citizens will be high on the list to be deported back to the island, and with fema and the rest of the doge shut downs, they’ll be fucked by the next hurricane anyway.
It would take more than removing birthright citizenship. Congress granted U.S. citizenship to Puerto Rico citizens in 1917.
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 previous voting was completely honest.
Please don't be so condescending.
We are trying to have better conversations here, and mocking someone really doesn't help.
(Edited because person replying had a very solid point.)
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.
That's fair. I'm just tired of that kind of aggressive commenting. It doesn't lead to conversation or growth.
Come on, guys, we all know Israel is already our 51st state if not seat of power.
No we're their 2nd state...
*7th district (not counting their west bank district)
Which is funny because he doesn't wear the male religious hat (kippah) and he only ever goes to Shul (synagogue) when a camera is pointed at him.
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.
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..."
Too many "kot-tam limbrals" there in PR! The Cons would never allow statehood anyway. We'd need a Dem majority in the house, senate AND a Dem POTUS/SCOTUS.
Washington DC: bottom meme
At least PR doesn't get its budget and local laws overturned. DC is like below colony status.
Give PR the independence
Does PR want to be independent?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Puerto_Rican_status_referendum
60℅ wants statehood.
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.
Edit: The more I think about it the more I like the idea. Can we annex them for like 1 election cycle, clean house, then de-annex them. We just need them to be American for like 3-4 years.
I feel like things could work out for them if territory boundaries were kept intact and integrated as individual states. I feel like Ontario would settle as a solid democrat state, but I think the rest are still in play. I want to say Quebec would end up democrat too but Quebec is surprising, I wouldn't put any money on it.
"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? 🤣😂😅😢
Didn't they also not want to become a state though? Last I heard they mostly wanted to remain a territory.
Every boriken I know would very much prefer independence
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.
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
My understanding is that historically, the vote has been almost 50/50, but that there have been issues with the question that have thrown up doubts about the validity of the referendum conclusions. Stuff like giving the options of statehood or territory, but not independence, etc. Even the one you linked says that only around half of the population responded and over 200,000 ballots were thrown out for either being blank or invalid.
I had thought that a significant portion of the population had been in favor of independence, especially since we came in and basically destroyed their economy. They had been one of the largest manufacturers of pharmaceuticals in the world before the US, and now I think their biggest industry is tourism, which, as someone who has lived in a tourist town for decades, is not conducive to a healthy economy.
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.
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.
And the District of Columbia, and Guam, and Saipan, and Micronesia, and…
DC should vote for independence.
While I know PR probably isn't down for becoming a state now, we know that if they did have two senators and several house members, we'd be in a lot less shit right now. Hell, how many electrical votes would they have been in 2016 and 2024?
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.
Puerto Rico could apply for EU membership!
They could become a Canadian province. We'd welcome them in, but wouldn't force them into it against their will.
It would make a lot of sense. Canada already has a province where the population doesn't speak English. And Canada would definitely appreciate a place with a tropical climate in a way the US never would. Plus, 3.2 million people is easy to ignore in a country of 330 million. But, in Canada they'd be the 5th biggest province, so they'd hold a lot of sway.
Or, at least, they could join the Commonwealth and have stronger relations with Canada, the UK, the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica, etc.
I would think Puerto Rico is ready to no longer be a commonwealth, much less a state.
If Puerto Rico became a state, where would we deport all their brown people to? They're obviously illegals, but Spain and the 'country' of Africa would need to take them back.
Canada also has a ton of brown people from all over the world. I guess they could be sent to their 'home countries' too.
/s
Maybe they could become part of the Dominican Republic. Seems a lot better than being attached to the US now.
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.
Hmm but if the big stumbling block before was that one of the only 2 parties you have to choose from didn't want PR to become a state on the basis of its population generally voting the other party, and now that's changed and they prefer the party that previously opposed their integration in to the union, wouldn't the party that formerly supported them now simply become opposed?
It’s all theater while we turn ourselves into Cuba
Believe it or not.
I don’t know much about the state of healthcare there and nothing about how health coverage or insurance works, but from stories after the hurricane, it appears hospitals are much less equipped or accessible. A significant investment in technology and medical offices seems beneficial.
I’m certainly willing to be called wrong by anyone with first hand or more complete knowledge
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.
Canadians are white. Case closed.
I had no idea how bad it is there now: https://youtu.be/6sPRFvWOBwo ☹️
Something something... DEI?
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.
The Imperial Japanese Navy named their battlecruisers and heavy cruisers after mountains. You gotta name your ships after something, and the problem is worse the more you have - the British named a ton of their warships after flowers of all things.
I mean:
And if you really have hundreds of vessels (say destroyers) you could just number them.
Puerto Rico is majority white