While U.S. citizens at home and abroad held their collective breaths as Presidential election results came in Tuesday night, the media paid little attention to another potentially important election decision that was being made in the Caribbean. The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico voted by a margin of 61% to become the 51st state in the union.
How Puerto Rico moves from here is still unknown, the Governor elect Alejandro Garcia Padilla is a member of the Popular Democratic Party, which favors the status quo. So he may not push the process.
Ultimately the final decision concerning statehood is in the hands of Congress. Historically speaking,they have never denied an application for joining the union, nor with the exception of Texas have they delayed entry.
Although there is no major precedent for denying statehood, I think it is entirely possible during our current national financial situation, that Congress may delay or deny statehood to Puerto Rico. Take into account the fact that the territory has an upwards of 13.6% unemployment rate, almost 2% higher than Nevada the highest in the nation. And add to that a new state would also require congressional redistricting, potentially shifting the balance of power, it may not be a bet that either side of the aisle is willing to place. Puerto Rico would also acquire federal funding. It may very well be a hit to the budget that Congress can’t handle until they have stabilized the national economy, if and when they do.
There are also other cultural and political potentials to consider. Puerto Rico is a spanish speaking territory; and in a time of increased anti-latino sentiment when states like Alabama are drafting tougher latino targeting anti-immigration laws, it’s foreseeable that anti-latino sentiment may rear it’s head and have a negative impact on the territory’s attempt at statehood.
Then there is the fact that Puerto Rico’s party structure is not the same as the mainland, while the current belief that it would become a blue state is a reasonable assumption. It should be noted that the current parties in the territory tend to focus on smaller issues such as working conditions and environmentalism, and neither could be described as solely left or right leaning.
While I personally would like to see Puerto Rico join the Union, and become the 51st state. I don’t think the road ahead will be an easy one, for the Congress or Puerto Rico, but it should prove to be an interesting component to an interesting year.
The commentary posted by my classmate is in regards to Puerto Rico voting to become the 51st state of the U.S. This caught my attention because as he stated, the nation and the nation's media were so enthralled with the presidential election that they paid little to no attention that Puerto Rico was also voting to become the 51st state. The presidential election was pretty intense and everyone's focused was who was going to be our next president. This is a thought that crossed my mind the very next day when the media finally put some attention on Puerto Rico. I was caught by surprise.
ReplyDeleteI think that Mr. Nooning's intended audience is everyone that had no clue about Puerto Rico, and that is a pretty large part of the nation. Even though Puerto Rico has always juggled with the decision, it's never been such a big deal to the majority of Americans such as now when 61% of the territory voted to become a state. That is pretty big news and Nooning is using this opportunity to make the readers aware of the difficult decision that Congress has to soon make. Those that are concerned about the budget should have their ears perked because of the financial burdens that could possibly be brought on by Puerto Rico. Nooning claims that the U.S. would be assuming Puerto Rico's unemployment rates and the the additional funding that would have to be sent to island. Nooning also states that there is issue over the fact that the majority of Puerto Ricans speak spanish because of the anti-immigrant sentiments of some of the states. Political parties are also playing an issue. While many believe that Puerto Rico would be a blue state, it is difficult to say which way it will swing because of the political issues that they tend to focus on. Nooning favors Puerto Rico, but is still concerned with the commitments that the U.S. will be making if Congress decides to make the island a state.
I agree that Congress has so much to consider; however, the U.S. has been in Puerto Rico for so many years that it is about time it is made a state. According to the U.S. council for Puerto Rico, they are more concerned over equality than anything else. They believe that many of the territory's problems are a direct result of the undefined relationship between the U.S. and Puerto Rico. I believe they are right because with out knowing where they stand, they have little chance of moving forward.