The Poison Pill

[L_F_Miranda]

What do you think has been holding up the status debate in Puerto Rico since about the 1970's? According to Ruben Berrios, its STATEHOOD, the poison pill!

Puerto Ricans fight tooth and nail among themselves blaming each other for the status mess we're in. Yes, we have some blame, but the biggest blame is non other then CONGRESS! It refuses to get involved in a final plebiscite vote that includes STATEHOOD as one of the options.

Therefore Congress just says, "Go ahead and vote, we'll decide later." In this way its doesn't feel responsible for the outcome, which many believe WILL BE STATEHOOD!

So what do we have?

1- 3.5 million Puerto Ricans wanting some sort of reform or a total change in status.

2-Some are trying to figure out if American citizenship will be wiped out or we can negociate something to keep a dual citizenship.

3-Statehooders obviously want the full Monty, full annexation, full entitlement programs, full welfare and full Income Tax credits. They call it the full responsibilites of citizenship. This entails...........

A- 8 representatives and 2 Senators, possibly a larger state representation than 28 Anglo-speaking states! THE POISON PILL, LA PAPA CALIENTE.

B- 6 electoral votes, which means Puerto Ricans can decide a close presidential election. Most think Puerto Ricans will go for the Democrats, the Party of Welfare entitlements.

4- Puerto Ricans once said, "language is not negociable", but many are beginning to sing another tune. Since 9-11 the neo-nationalist revival has made many statehooders skeptical about Spanish. Now many are willing to negociate or put Spanish on a second tier vs. English.

5-Puerto Ricans are looking for Congress to sponsor a plebiscite, but sponsoring means, CONGRESS WILL HAVE TO ABIDE 100% TO WHAT PUERTO RICANS PICK. Statehood now becomes the poison Pill.

6-Puerto Ricans have begun to acknowledge that the American system guarantees their consumerist addiction, a change might place them at a dis-advantage. Does Congress care? They don't give a damn. This sends a lot of Puerto Ricans to look for ways to get to Florida without too much disruption.

7-Some Puerto Ricans rightly say that once we become a state we will pay our full share of Federal income taxes, however as Romero Barceló and company once pointed out, Statehood is a Bonanza for the poor, 60% of the island population. Why?

A-Because our GNP is lower than Mississippi's, therefore we are entitled to INCOME TAX CREDIT; which means that all monies paid to Uncle Sam will be returned in welafre and other goodies, in flows much higher than the other 50 states.

In other words we will continue living off the American tax payer forever with the added bonus of having more representatives in Congress than 28 tax paying states and could even decide a presidential election. Pa que no Jodan.........LOL

[RPR]

I'm going to keep this post as simple as possible.

At times, I wonder how things would have played out if Rosello had won the 2004 elections. You have to give credit where credit is due and this Rosello is hated and loved by many at the same time. Loved because he has pushed the statehood agenda and hated for the same reason. Yet, isn't this what is needed, a political showdown with the US Congress? Perhaps, this is why AAV won by questionable votes. A sucker punch to take some air out of the statehood movement and Rosello.

PS

I enjoy reading the long posts when I get the opportunity so keep them coming.