Doesn’t work with New Mexico.
I have no strong feelings on this one way or another, but I kind of agree with Dr. Drake: the US needs a state with a non-English-speaking majority, so that it can break down the barriers of fear, learn a little flexibility, and have more in common with the experience of other multilingual/multicultural countries. Like, say, Canada.
Also, I suspect this would help the spread of metric. 
Well, okay, we’ll make Samoa County, Guam County, and Mariana County part of Hawai’i, and South Virginia County a part of Puerto Rico or Florida, your choice.
The senator issue seems sort of silly given the differences between the population represented by senators from California and Texas and those from Alaska and Wyoming, and of course a lot of the tiny eastern states only get so many senators because of unique historical circumstances. I think assigning senators to the far-flung territories based on the same criteria is fine, and of course for those three areas we’re only talking about a total of three representatives out of 435, so I doubt they’d be able to use their might to push through some sort of pan-Islander agenda, but if you’re really worried about it, see the first paragraph above.
Certainly if they want to. And if they want to remain a territory, or go independent if they like as well.
Puerto Rican Nationalist here-I vote for independence.
They should join a Caribbean “Super Sate” (PR, DR/Haiti/Jamiaca, Lesser Antilles.
The Dominican would no more join with Haiti than they would vote to blow themselves up with nuclear weapons.
You want to import Canada’s language wars…? :dubious:
Anyway, I’m happy with whatever the Puerto Ricans vote for - though if independence is an option and they went with that, I’d be kinda sad. The status quo seems pretty good to me (and, evidently, to most Puerto Ricans in past referendums), though if it did become a state, that would at least have the benefit of shaking things up a bit.
I accidentally said that I was not an american, but I do think PR should become a state (if they vote that way). Constitutionally, I don’t think it can happen in our political climate though. Doesn’t the Senate and House have to approve it by majority or 2/3’s vote or something like that? I don’t see the republicans ever voting for them to become a state, even if 100% of the population of PR wants to become a state.
The last reports I’ve read indicated that most people in Puerto Rico want their own independent country.
Unless an over whelming majority want statehood (like 90%) why should we drag them into a country they don’t want to join?
Will the US benefit in any way from Puerto Rico becoming a state?
I say let Puerto Rico in if they can get 75% in a referendum. Should that happen, I propose keeping Hermitian happy by ceding Arizona to Mexico. (Would anyone really miss it? And think what fun Sheriff Arpaio would have down there)
Huh? What reports are you reading? The independence movement has in recent decades had very little support. In the '98 referendum, it got about 2.5% of the votes. Heck, in 2008 the independence party had less than 5% of the vote. Where are you getting that “most people” want independence?
I’m not quite sure why “foreign” gets the rolly-eye treatment…Puerto Ricans may be US citizens, but the island has a very different culture, history and identity from anything in the mainland US. It also has some trappings of a “nation” (e.g., the Puerto Rican Olympic team).
Your neighbor may have problems with Puerto Ricans, but that’s a different matter than whether or not the island and its inhabitants can justifiably be called “foreign”.
My head is being scratched too.
Random link 2011.
Summary: 4% want independence. 35% want Commonwealth (the status quo). 41% want to be a state.
The current vote has two steps:
- a) should it remain a Commonwealth? or b) should it not, and we should have a vote to find out what it becomes
- should it be a) a state b) a Commonwealth c) independent
or maybe 2b) is not an option, I am honestly fuzzy there
Not American. If they want to, yes; if they don’t want to, no.
I’m American and voted no.
My primary concern is that, like it or not, there is a strong nationalist streak in most Puerto Ricans. As Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis found out the hard way, joining the Union is not reversible! Even if Puerto Ricans voted for statehood in a futre election, and were admitted as the 51st state, Puerto Rican nationalism wouldn’t disappear.
A secessionist movement would arise almost as soon as the statehood celebrations ended. Even if that secessionist movement were only supported by a minority (say, 10%) or Puerto Ricans, that’s too many.
Past referenda indicate Puerto Ricans are unsure of what they want. Until such time as an overwhelming majority of Puerto Ricans is enthusiastically pro-statehood, I think it’s a bad idea.