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Statehood Deserves 2 Thumbs Down!
1. “puertorriqueñidad:”
Puerto Rico's culture would be lost. Our language would be destroyed. Our way of thinking and our mannerisms would be lost too. This has been proven time and time again throughout the centuries of imperialism. Most countries, especially in Africa, which lost many parts of their culture (Especially their tribal languages, because French, English, Dutch, Portuguese, or Spanish was more beneficial politically and economically.) and people, and paid with it even more with struggles for independence and civil wars.
Statehood has everything to do with language and culture. How is that possible, when you have an island with a culture much different than any other state of the Union, (I don't want to hear about Texas or Hawaii, because those states have mostly Anglo-Protestant populations and are very much Americanized as well having pride in their state, which is different in Puerto Rico.) with a language that is not used in the USA like it is on the island? There are people proud to be from New York City and state, but I never seen any of them have a New Yorker’s parade in any other part of the country, nor even in their state. I’ve never seen any of them take out the flag of New York and wave it with pride. Puerto Ricans, on the other hand, do all of the above.
I don't want to read that the USA doesn't have an official language and New México has a constitution that allows Spanish as it's second language, because that is different in Puerto Rico. Why? Well, because Spanish is known to 99.9% of the PR population, and English is only known to 20%, and it isn't used on television, books, school, gov't activities...etc like Spanish is. For the USA, it's the exact opposite. Which USA state does the majority of its population knows Spanish and uses it daily? Which USA state does the majority of it's population uses Spanish as the language of instruction of all school classes, gov't activities, and most of television...etc? In the United States you may speak whatever language you'd like. Although, that language you might speak won't be on all the street signs, or all official documents. It won't be in the books in masses in the library or spoken as the language of instruction at schools. Point blank, the language used most officially in the USA is English. You don't need a piece of paper to tell you that...if you did, most likely it would be in English!
No state, in a majority of it's population, has a culture that is significantly different from other states. Remember, in the majority, not some indigenous Native American tribes that make up only a few percent in their "purity" of the state's population. Puerto Rico on the other hand, has in a majority, a very Latin American culture, which would change if another Americanization campaign (The first one failed, due to how it was applied.) took place, which is inevitable if the statehood process was applied, because the USA doesn't want a state that is totally different from every other state. That would create too much controversy and many would question why the USA allowed a state with 80% of its population without basic English skills, have more pride in their culture and flag than any Ohioan would, are poorer than any other state, doesn’t pay much in taxes, and (If statehood was voted in.) has almost 50% of the population apposing their status. Hawaii and Alaska both voted more than 90% to become a state.
Also, the Puerto Rican population and employment by the government of PR are immensely larger than what Hawaii had when it became a state. Also, Hawaii did not have any tax-incentives and didn't receive as much gov't hand outs as PR does now. The majority of its people worked in tourism, agriculture, or in the military, as opposed to the now diverse economy of PR. Also, the standard of living of Hawaii was more prosperous then and is now than what Puerto Rico has.
The reality, the only real Spanish-Speakers are the Hispanics coming into the USA, and the politicians know that after the fourth generation+, most of them won't even know Spanish. In Puerto Rico it's much different. So those who think that language and culture has nothing to do with statehood for our island are wrong, because it does.
2 The pro-statehood party (PNP) stinks:
How many more corruption scandals will they see until the estadistas realize that their party is destroying our island? Almost everyday we hear about another PNP politician, especially from Rosselló’s administration, being sent to jail for stealing from our people. They try to enforce Americanization on us by copying the USA educational and commercial systems, such as English as the language of instruction for the University of Puerto Rico, and privatization. They also support the monopolization of small and medium Puerto Rican businesses to USA businesses, in order to bind our economies closer together. That has proven to create larger unemployment, underemployment, and less financial efficiency. They even tried to completely change our system of measurement, from Metric to English, even though most of the world uses the Metric system. They even want to allow USA military bases in PR, even though it has been proven that they actually take away from the PR economy because of the land they take up. They want to continue the combing of Vieques, even after the health effects, the death of a security guard, the destruction of its economy, and against the wishes of 68% of the population that voted for the immediate cessation of the practices.
3. USA Congress doesn’t want it:
If the USA Congress wanted to make PR a state, it would of years and years ago. The last vote to allow PR to have a binding referendum was denied by the USA Congress in 1998. Why? In the fear that if PR's voted for the statehood, the USA, would have to legally comply with that. So PR had a non-binding referendum, where PR's voted 50% none-of-the-above. The USA Congress, and people, simply does not want statehood for PR, if it had, it would allow PR a binding referendum, or just give it statehood unanimously. It has the power to. Under the USA Constitution, it has complete power over all USA territories. That includes Puerto Rico, of course. The Republicans don’t want it, because a Puerto Rican state would have more representatives than 25 other states. That would mean 2 Senators and 7 or 8 Representatives, all probably would be Democrats. Of course, with those numbers, the near 50/50 split of Republicans and Democrats in Congress would be tipped towards Democratic rule, and that is a conservative’s nightmare.
4. Colonial PR is a moneymaking machine:
The USA is making money off of Puerto Rico, more then it is giving it. It gives Puerto Rico $16 billion a year. While its multi-national corporations, who pay taxes and political "specialties" to the USA, makes probably more then $50 billion off of PR, not including the annual $19 billion consumer business profits in PR. Which makes domestic businesses rot. Also, Puerto Rico is not allowed to trade with other nations, so it must receive its goods straight from the USA. So Puerto Rico is charged many, many times more then what the good are worth or what the USA paid for them from other countries, such as China or Japan. Thus, the USA is making billions and billions off of PR as a colony, allowing the people think it’s helping her. Why would it want to make PR a state where it would loose money instead make money off of it?
5. No-tax incentives:
If Puerto Rico became a state, the multi-national corporations of the USA will leave Puerto Rico, because the tax-incentives Puerto Rico receives, as a colony, would not be given anymore. The reason is because other states that could use those tax incentives, such as Mississippi or Alabama, will be denied to receive them because the USA likes to make money. Those 3rd world tax-incentives would be an embarrassment to the USA economic system, and would lower the amount of monies going into the USA treasury, increasing the amount of profit for USA corporations. After Enron, that isn't a good idea, because when they fall, they fall hard. Puerto Rico, without those tax-incentives, unemployment rate (Probably 50%) and GDP would fall dramatically, because hundreds of thousands and 47% of our GDP directly depend on those USA multi-national corporations. Imagine the indirect response....Why can’t Puerto Rico just become independent from foreign corporations? Well, because we are a Colony, it would look bad and "too separatist" to the world of populares and the USA government.
6. Mass welfare and losses to the USA:
The mass unemployment rate and the collapse of the PR economy will allow Puerto Rico to receive monies from the USA, mostly welfare, decreasing the USA treasury. In statehood, all welfare restrictions PR has now would be lifted. Also, all the other restrictions for federal funding would be lifted, to help fight crime, improve education and gov’t inefficiency. Billions upon billions would be transferred to Puerto Rico, while Puerto Rico won’t be giving much to the USA. Taxes? Most Puerto Ricans, who are 200% under the Federal poverty rate, (60% of the PR population.) won't have to pay taxes, thus receiving billions and giving out about $48 million. If the USA allowed PR the tax-incentives, and the other states, it would loose direct money as well. A dead end.
7. The loss of our international recognition:
We wouldn’t be able to participate in the Olympics, (We win mostly in boxing competitions, our failures are due to political reasons.) or the Caribbean Baseball Championships, which we won in 2000.We wouldn’t be able to participate in the Miss Universe pageant, which we won 3 times, and was hosted 3 times on our island. It would be less likely for us to compete in the competition if we had to compete against 50 other states, instead of being automatically allowed to. Anyway, USA citizenship for PR is only 'important' because many PR's who can't find jobs in PR could find them in the USA. What is USA citizenship to Singapore, Ireland, or Chile except for passport-free passage, if we give our people a high standard of living, why would they want to permanently leave?
8. War:
Civil War or revolution from the independentistas is very probable outcomes of PR statehood. Do you want war in Puerto Rico? The insurrection might be small and the USA government might put it down, or it might not, but it will cause damage to our island, people, and world image. We might never recover, all because of statehood.
Conclusion:
Statehood is not going to happen, because not enough people want it, because too much is at risk. Everything Puerto Rican is at risk, our culture, language, people, economy, and island. Statehood deserves 2 thumbs down.
Puerto Rico's culture would be lost. Our language would be destroyed. Our way of thinking and our mannerisms would be lost too. This has been proven time and time again throughout the centuries of imperialism. Most countries, especially in Africa, which lost many parts of their culture (Especially their tribal languages, because French, English, Dutch, Portuguese, or Spanish was more beneficial politically and economically.) and people, and paid with it even more with struggles for independence and civil wars.
Statehood has everything to do with language and culture. How is that possible, when you have an island with a culture much different than any other state of the Union, (I don't want to hear about Texas or Hawaii, because those states have mostly Anglo-Protestant populations and are very much Americanized as well having pride in their state, which is different in Puerto Rico.) with a language that is not used in the USA like it is on the island? There are people proud to be from New York City and state, but I never seen any of them have a New Yorker’s parade in any other part of the country, nor even in their state. I’ve never seen any of them take out the flag of New York and wave it with pride. Puerto Ricans, on the other hand, do all of the above.
I don't want to read that the USA doesn't have an official language and New México has a constitution that allows Spanish as it's second language, because that is different in Puerto Rico. Why? Well, because Spanish is known to 99.9% of the PR population, and English is only known to 20%, and it isn't used on television, books, school, gov't activities...etc like Spanish is. For the USA, it's the exact opposite. Which USA state does the majority of its population knows Spanish and uses it daily? Which USA state does the majority of it's population uses Spanish as the language of instruction of all school classes, gov't activities, and most of television...etc? In the United States you may speak whatever language you'd like. Although, that language you might speak won't be on all the street signs, or all official documents. It won't be in the books in masses in the library or spoken as the language of instruction at schools. Point blank, the language used most officially in the USA is English. You don't need a piece of paper to tell you that...if you did, most likely it would be in English!
No state, in a majority of it's population, has a culture that is significantly different from other states. Remember, in the majority, not some indigenous Native American tribes that make up only a few percent in their "purity" of the state's population. Puerto Rico on the other hand, has in a majority, a very Latin American culture, which would change if another Americanization campaign (The first one failed, due to how it was applied.) took place, which is inevitable if the statehood process was applied, because the USA doesn't want a state that is totally different from every other state. That would create too much controversy and many would question why the USA allowed a state with 80% of its population without basic English skills, have more pride in their culture and flag than any Ohioan would, are poorer than any other state, doesn’t pay much in taxes, and (If statehood was voted in.) has almost 50% of the population apposing their status. Hawaii and Alaska both voted more than 90% to become a state.
Also, the Puerto Rican population and employment by the government of PR are immensely larger than what Hawaii had when it became a state. Also, Hawaii did not have any tax-incentives and didn't receive as much gov't hand outs as PR does now. The majority of its people worked in tourism, agriculture, or in the military, as opposed to the now diverse economy of PR. Also, the standard of living of Hawaii was more prosperous then and is now than what Puerto Rico has.
The reality, the only real Spanish-Speakers are the Hispanics coming into the USA, and the politicians know that after the fourth generation+, most of them won't even know Spanish. In Puerto Rico it's much different. So those who think that language and culture has nothing to do with statehood for our island are wrong, because it does.
2 The pro-statehood party (PNP) stinks:
How many more corruption scandals will they see until the estadistas realize that their party is destroying our island? Almost everyday we hear about another PNP politician, especially from Rosselló’s administration, being sent to jail for stealing from our people. They try to enforce Americanization on us by copying the USA educational and commercial systems, such as English as the language of instruction for the University of Puerto Rico, and privatization. They also support the monopolization of small and medium Puerto Rican businesses to USA businesses, in order to bind our economies closer together. That has proven to create larger unemployment, underemployment, and less financial efficiency. They even tried to completely change our system of measurement, from Metric to English, even though most of the world uses the Metric system. They even want to allow USA military bases in PR, even though it has been proven that they actually take away from the PR economy because of the land they take up. They want to continue the combing of Vieques, even after the health effects, the death of a security guard, the destruction of its economy, and against the wishes of 68% of the population that voted for the immediate cessation of the practices.
3. USA Congress doesn’t want it:
If the USA Congress wanted to make PR a state, it would of years and years ago. The last vote to allow PR to have a binding referendum was denied by the USA Congress in 1998. Why? In the fear that if PR's voted for the statehood, the USA, would have to legally comply with that. So PR had a non-binding referendum, where PR's voted 50% none-of-the-above. The USA Congress, and people, simply does not want statehood for PR, if it had, it would allow PR a binding referendum, or just give it statehood unanimously. It has the power to. Under the USA Constitution, it has complete power over all USA territories. That includes Puerto Rico, of course. The Republicans don’t want it, because a Puerto Rican state would have more representatives than 25 other states. That would mean 2 Senators and 7 or 8 Representatives, all probably would be Democrats. Of course, with those numbers, the near 50/50 split of Republicans and Democrats in Congress would be tipped towards Democratic rule, and that is a conservative’s nightmare.
4. Colonial PR is a moneymaking machine:
The USA is making money off of Puerto Rico, more then it is giving it. It gives Puerto Rico $16 billion a year. While its multi-national corporations, who pay taxes and political "specialties" to the USA, makes probably more then $50 billion off of PR, not including the annual $19 billion consumer business profits in PR. Which makes domestic businesses rot. Also, Puerto Rico is not allowed to trade with other nations, so it must receive its goods straight from the USA. So Puerto Rico is charged many, many times more then what the good are worth or what the USA paid for them from other countries, such as China or Japan. Thus, the USA is making billions and billions off of PR as a colony, allowing the people think it’s helping her. Why would it want to make PR a state where it would loose money instead make money off of it?
5. No-tax incentives:
If Puerto Rico became a state, the multi-national corporations of the USA will leave Puerto Rico, because the tax-incentives Puerto Rico receives, as a colony, would not be given anymore. The reason is because other states that could use those tax incentives, such as Mississippi or Alabama, will be denied to receive them because the USA likes to make money. Those 3rd world tax-incentives would be an embarrassment to the USA economic system, and would lower the amount of monies going into the USA treasury, increasing the amount of profit for USA corporations. After Enron, that isn't a good idea, because when they fall, they fall hard. Puerto Rico, without those tax-incentives, unemployment rate (Probably 50%) and GDP would fall dramatically, because hundreds of thousands and 47% of our GDP directly depend on those USA multi-national corporations. Imagine the indirect response....Why can’t Puerto Rico just become independent from foreign corporations? Well, because we are a Colony, it would look bad and "too separatist" to the world of populares and the USA government.
6. Mass welfare and losses to the USA:
The mass unemployment rate and the collapse of the PR economy will allow Puerto Rico to receive monies from the USA, mostly welfare, decreasing the USA treasury. In statehood, all welfare restrictions PR has now would be lifted. Also, all the other restrictions for federal funding would be lifted, to help fight crime, improve education and gov’t inefficiency. Billions upon billions would be transferred to Puerto Rico, while Puerto Rico won’t be giving much to the USA. Taxes? Most Puerto Ricans, who are 200% under the Federal poverty rate, (60% of the PR population.) won't have to pay taxes, thus receiving billions and giving out about $48 million. If the USA allowed PR the tax-incentives, and the other states, it would loose direct money as well. A dead end.
7. The loss of our international recognition:
We wouldn’t be able to participate in the Olympics, (We win mostly in boxing competitions, our failures are due to political reasons.) or the Caribbean Baseball Championships, which we won in 2000.We wouldn’t be able to participate in the Miss Universe pageant, which we won 3 times, and was hosted 3 times on our island. It would be less likely for us to compete in the competition if we had to compete against 50 other states, instead of being automatically allowed to. Anyway, USA citizenship for PR is only 'important' because many PR's who can't find jobs in PR could find them in the USA. What is USA citizenship to Singapore, Ireland, or Chile except for passport-free passage, if we give our people a high standard of living, why would they want to permanently leave?
8. War:
Civil War or revolution from the independentistas is very probable outcomes of PR statehood. Do you want war in Puerto Rico? The insurrection might be small and the USA government might put it down, or it might not, but it will cause damage to our island, people, and world image. We might never recover, all because of statehood.
Conclusion:
Statehood is not going to happen, because not enough people want it, because too much is at risk. Everything Puerto Rican is at risk, our culture, language, people, economy, and island. Statehood deserves 2 thumbs down.
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